Musical Masks
by TempestDash
Summary: A bit of an accident during Halloween creates the oddest game of musical chairs ever. -A weekly series.-
1. Donning the Mask

1. Donning the Mask

---

Kim tossed various shirts, pants, skirts, boxes, and other unrecognizable clothes and miscellany from her closet in a fury. She was a little upset at this sudden change in plans for tomorrow but at least she had a day to recover. It could have been much worse, it could have happened the day OF the party.

Ron watched as the floor became first cluttered then unrecognizable. "Uh, KP, might I suggest—" he started to say.

"I'm not dressing up as a giant burrito," said Kim with a frustrated sigh. It was like he had a one track mind sometimes. She knew that was being unfair, but she really had no interest in dressing up as foodstuffs. "And if you even think about getting that taco costume out again, I will stop talking to you. Forever."

"Well, you need to come up with something," said Ron. "The party is tomorrow and we sort of need to match since we're going as a couple."

"Easier said than done, Ron," Kim said from the closet.

"I don't understand why we can't just stick to the original plan," shrugged Ron. "I was really looking forward to going as Speed Racer."

Kim stuck her head out of the closet. "First, you may have been looking forward to being Speed, but I was not looking forward to being Trixie. And second, BONNIE and BRICK are going as Speed Racer and Trixie and I will not wear the same costume as Miss Egotrip."

"Hrm," grumbled Ron. He knew as soon as he heard the news about Bon-bon and Brick there would be trouble. He just didn't understand the stigma women had about dressing alike. Not that he was particularly eager to incite comparisons between himself and Brick Flagg, but he'd endure it, like he always did. It was like he ever worried about looking silly, he had no interest in climbing the social food chain.

Kim resumed going through her closet looking for something to put together as a last minute costume. She had plenty of costumes from earlier Halloweens, but some were probably a little small now. She also had several costumes from her world saving duties, but they were hardly themed, and didn't necessarily imply a matching costume for Ron.

Kim dug a little deeper in the endless abyss that was her costume and stumbled across a small box in the back corner, wedged mostly behind the dresser and covered by a blanket, as if intended to be forgotten. Kim pulled it out and dusted it off with a quizzical expression. This was her closet, so she must have put the box back there, but she couldn't recall what she would have hidden back there rather than simply throwing whatever it was away. She sat on her heels, momentarily perplexed, and opened the box.

She stared, slightly slack jawed. The outfit staring back at her was immediately recognizable and her mind was flooded with memories. Oh, yes, she remembered why she'd hidden this. Her fingers instinctively ran over the smooth, soft fabric and she could remember how it felt when she wore it. A cool shiver ran down her spine. Then a sly smile crept across her face. It was only one day, after all? She could indulge.

"What's up, KP?" asked Ron from the bed where he was sitting. "Didja find something?"

Kim stood, holding the box cradled in her hand. "Yup," she announced cheerily. She turned and looked at Ron with a glance that made him jump. "All I need a wig to complete it. And it has a pretty obvious matching outfit for you."

"Great!" said Ron, relieved that Kim seemed to be less angry. He hated dealing with Kim or pretty much anyone when they were angry. "Will it be easy to put together my costume?"

"Yup," nodded Kim. Her smile looked almost sinister now. "Just a little makeup, a wig, and a coat. Easy and cheap."

Ron swallowed, he felt dread creeping into his body from the stare. "That's good," he said, half-heartedly. "So what's the costume?"

Kim reached into the box and pulled out the garment, holding it up for Ron to see. He's eyes went wide.

"Oh, no. No, no, no," Ron said quickly, shaking his head. Rufus jumped out from his pocket and looked to see what was going on. He stared at Kim then, went 'eek!' and dove back into the pocket.

"Come on, Ron," Kim said, trying to plead, though she couldn't seem to banish her wicked smile. "It'll be fun for a day."

"KP, have you cracked?!" Ron said loudly.

Kim finally got control of her expression and stuck out her lip.

"Aw man," Ron winced, seeing the puppy-dog stare.

"Pweeze," Kim laid it on thick.

"Nnng," Ron groaned. His battle had already been lost. He just hoped he wouldn't need therapy after this.

----

"Shego!" called Dr. Drakken has he stalked through their lair. He walked with his arms straight at his sides, one hand gripping a folded pamphlet in a tight fist, and slightly stooped forward with each step, as if he was leading his way by his nose. It reminded Shego of a vulture -- a blue, highly impotent vulture, but a vulture nonetheless.

Shego was sitting in front of one of the large control monitors watching TV in 122" of glory while filing the claws on her gloves. "What is it?" she said as she watched Drakken come up to her in a huff.

"We need costumes!" he announced in much the same way one might announce they've decided to go to war with Germany.

"Er, why?" asked Shego, a brow decidedly arched. "You have some plan to steal something from a theatre?"

"No, I—er, yes! I have a grand plan," Drakken quickly corrected himself. "It is called... ehh, Operation Party!"

Shego blinked, then turned back to the monitor. "I'm not going to a party with you."

"But it is Halloween," said Drakken, stomping his foot like a spoiled child. "And everyone will be there."

"Everyone?" asked Shego without turning away from the episode of Agony County playing. "Who's everyone?"

"The villains, of course, Shego," said Drakken. "Jack Hench is throwing some Tri-City Halloween bash and we need to make an appearance."

"I don't see why," said Shego. "Who are worried about looking bad in front of? The useless golfer, the idiot who thinks monkeys are _more_ evolved than humans, or the spoiled son of a rich lunatic?" She paused then turned away and looked at Drakken with an expression of wonder. "Wow, you guys are all pretty much on par with each other in lameness, aren't you?"

"Please, Shego, I could care less about those plebians," he dismissed with an air of faux aristocracy. He held his hand up, palm down, and made a 'shoo' motion to drive the point home.

"Then why? Hoping to score with DNAmy again?"

Drakken shivered from toes to scalp. "NO!" he nearly yelled.

"Hmm," Shego put her hand to her chin. "He doth protest too much..."

"This has nothing to do with the other villains," Drakken quickly interrupted. He held out the wrinkled paper in his hand to Shego, pushing it into her hands. Shego opened it and read.

"'HenchCo will be presenting the latest in their line of high tech equipment for the discerning villain.' Ugh, I've had enough of his junk." Shego crumpled up the paper and threw it over her shoulder.

"Shego!"

"What?" Shego said, turning away from Drakken. "Every time one of his stupid gadgets shows up my life turns into a living hell. Besides, it's not like you have money lying around to buy his baubles."

"Why would I buy anything when I have you?" asked Drakken.

"Check my contract," Shego said without moving. "Last time we renewed there was a strict, no stealing worthless junk clause in there."

Drakken grumbled loudly.

"Shh! I'm watching," said Shego. She didn't actually like Agony County very much, but it was better than listening to Drakken grit his teeth and stamp his feet in a tantrum. To her surprise, he actually quieted down and she was able to hear the vapid dialog of the shows supposedly teenaged cast. If the youngest of the 'kids' on this show was less than twenty-three, Shego would eat her own gloves.

"I suppose I could just invent something new to use on Kim Possible," said Drakken, behind her.

Shego froze then slowly turned around to see Drakken talking to himself, clearly trying out insane ideas in his head until he came up with something worth building. Last time it was a toaster that fired bread as fast as a bullet. At least, that was what it was supposed to do the times it didn't burn the loaf and fill the lair up with smoke. Drakken brainstorming new inventions was ALWAYS a dangerous thing.

"What time was that party?" Shego asked, drearily.

"Tomorrow at six," said Drakken. "But I guess you're right, I don't need to ste—"

"Fine, we'll go," Shego quickly interrupted him. She didn't want him thinking about ... whatever it was he was thinking for too long or they'd have rabbit shaped robots or something else inane hopping around by the end of the week.

"Eh?" asked Drakken. "Oh, good, good. Then we need costumes."

Shego sighed loudly. She reached back and picked up the paper and un-crumpled it. As she smoothed out the wrinkles she noticed a line on the invitation. She blinked.

"It's a themed party?" asked Shego.

"Yeah, everyone is supposed to dress up as their opposites," said Drakken. He rubbed his chin. "How does one dress up as a buffoon?" he asked.

Shego patted him on the shoulder. "You've got that look down already, you might want to try something new."

----

The Halloween party at Middleton High School was a sponsored affair, put together by the diligent work of the senior class student council and a lot of cajoling of the often absent principal to allow the event to be given funding akin to the traditional homecoming dance. Thanks to the efforts of a few influential teenagers, the school gym was down covered in orange and brown streamers, large murals depicting pumpkin patches and graveyards, a flurry of ghosts suspended from the ceiling (that looked more as if they'd been pulled out of Pac-Man rather than a horror movie), and tables separated by occasional bales of hay.

Neither Kim nor Ron were part of the student council or were involved in the petitioning activities and so opted to arrive about fifteen minutes after the start of the party. This way the party would be underway and there would be little of that awkward punch drinking and idly standing around looking at decorations that occurs when only a dozen people have yet to show up. By the time Ron and Kim walked through the door the gym was already half full of costumed students.

The first person to notice their arrival was Monique. She was dressed up as a 70's blaxspoitation movie character. Her hair had been teased into a large ball and she was wearing a yellow jumpsuit and carrying a plastic pistol strapped to her thigh. And her first reaction was panic. Her second reaction was to reach for her gun and hope the plastic was intimidating enough.

"Woah, chill out, Mon," said Ron, holding up his black gloved hands in defense.

Monique stared at them carefully. "Ron?" she said first. Then looked at the woman beside him. "Wow, I did not expect this, girlfriend."

Kim laughed, then stopped herself, moved into a pose and cackled instead, tossing her long raven hair behind her shoulder in the process. She was wearing a rather form fitting jumpsuit of black and green that covered her from her neck down, and a long black wavy wig.

"It's it a little... I dunno, odd to be dressing up as someone who's tried to kill you more than three dozen times?" asked Monique, looking at Kim's Shego costume. She had to admit, silently of course, that the outfit was very flattering for the svelte and athletic teen hero.

"It's just a costume," said Kim, dismissively. "It's not like Ron's planning on taking over the world either."

Ron brushed some lint off his long blue coat and raised an eyebrow as evilly as he could. It turned out to be a very convincing impression of Dr. Drakken. "That's what you think," he said with a faux grumble that sounded more Wicked Witch of the West than the blue scientist he had fought on so many occasions. "Just as soon as I get my hands on the plurium I'll be able to build my world domination ray!" He raised his hands into the air dramatically and laughed.

"Wow, if it isn't the dweeb team."

Ron and Kim turned to see Bonnie walk up. She was dressed in a pink coat and skirt outfit intended to match the cartoon character Trixie while Brick Flagg as Speed stood behind her in a all white jumpsuit with a red 'M' on his chest and shiny helmet. "Hmph, a mad scientist, huh?" Bonnie said, looking at Ron with a skeptical grin. "I'm sure you thought long and hard about that one."

"Woah, is that Kim Possible?" asked Brick suddenly while staring at Kim.

"Uh, yeah?" she said.

"Wow, you look hot!" Brick said with all earnestly.

Bonnie quickly poked him in the gut and started dragging him away from Ron and Kim while the latter two laughed. Monique shook her head. "This is going to be an interesting night."

-----

Shego checked herself in the mirror one more time to make sure her makeup was right. She rarely cared about the appearance of her skin, being more proud of her green hues than ashamed, but if she wanted to pull off the character right, she needed to look a little more pink colored than normal. The heavy base she'd applied and additional blush and liner covered up her face and neck well but she decided she wasn't going to bother about her mid-drift or forearms. She didn't care about the party that much, she just was looking forward to the opportunity to freak everyone out.

Shego cleared her throat as she looked in the mirror. She'd done well, she thought. The long red wig was the hardest to look natural, but a couple of hair extensions from a costume shop helped fill it out to match the person she was dressing as. The worst part was really the size. She was simply taller than the girl, and threw the proportions off.

Checking her watch, Shego headed back into the main section of the lair. "It's almost time, Dr. D, are you ready?" she called out. She put her hands on her hips and tried to look elite, hoping to see a good reaction out of Drakken.

A moment later her target came out from another hall and then stopped and stared when he saw Shego. To his credit, however, Shego did the exact same thing.

"A-are you dressed up as..." Drakken trailed off, almost incapable of saying it. A minute later he caught his voice again. "Are you dressed as Kim Possible?!" he finished, sounding somewhat outraged.

Shego, for her part, took one look at Drakken's outfit and could not stop herself from laughing. Even after Drakken posed his serious question, Shego had no choice but to wait for the loud laughter to subside. Finally, Shego collected herself and a breath long enough to say, "Who are you supposed to be? Little Bo Peep?" She burst into laugher immediately afterwards.

Drakken was standing under the archway leading to his room wearing a long pink, frilly dress, with a bonnet, and holding the leash for an animatronic sheep by his side. He looked at Shego with an almost impossibly serious expression given his appearance. "Shego, the opposite of someone of my pure intellect and mastery over the sciences is obviously a simple agrarian tending a herd."

"And a girl," tittered Shego. This was almost worth any hassle the party would undoubtedly be.

"Don't you see, by going to an opposites party as someone so simple, I am showing all those ruffians exactly what I'm capable of!" Drakken declared. Shego fell over laughing.

"Stop that, Shego," Drakken said in a tired voice. Shego continued laughing which disrupted her attempt to stand again.

"It's not that funny," Drakken insisted.

"Yeah -- ehehehe -- it is," Shego managed.

"Hrmph," Drakken folded his arms with an angered expression.

----

Kim sauntered up to the drink table and got herself some punch. She'd been getting stares from all across the party and, she was almost ashamed to admit, she liked it. The skin tight costume, the way she tried to imitate Shego's brash and overconfident personality, it made her feel both startlingly exposed and deliciously alive. It was not something she'd want to do all the time, like Shego did, but she absolutely appreciated why the villainess dressed the way she did. She almost felt jealous.

"Hey, Kim," said a smooth voice from beside her. Kim turned to see Josh Mankey coming up beside her. He was dressed as some sort of hip-hop star: backwards hat, oversized jersey, low hanging pants, sunglasses, and lots of bling. Kim smiled evilly at him – as she had been doing all night to everyone – and looked him obviously over.

"Lookin' ... well, I guess 'sharp' isn't the right word to use," said Kim. Actually, she reflected, he looked at lot like Ron did in his Naked Mole Rap video from last year.

"Thanks," said Josh modestly, apparently not trying to match the personality of the stereotype he embodied. "You're looking really good."

Kim tried not to blush. It wasn't that she was still seeking Josh's approval, that ship had sailed long ago, but it was the earnest way he gave the compliment that affected her. It occurred to her immediately afterwards that she never dressed all that modestly while dating him, and Shego's outfit covered up more of her body than she exposed on an average day. She put a hand to her hip and looked at Josh accusingly.

"Oh, only noticing now, huh?" she said.

"Er," started Josh. "Not at all, but it's not like you ever needed positive reinforcement. You always look good."

"Hmm..." Kim eyed him skeptically. "I'll accept that for now." She smiled more honestly now. "How's Tara?"

"She's good," nodded Josh. "She's the legged mermaid over there." He pointed into the throng. Kim quickly spotted her in her glittering mermaid dress complete with seashell bikini. Kim was surprised she hadn't noticed her before, she had a pretty nice looking costume.

"Not bad," said Kim. "I may need to try to kidnap someone later, I'll put her on my list." She laughed.

Josh smiled. "Well, unless there's someone here dressed like you, I'm not sure who will mount a rescue."

"You wouldn't lead the charge to save your date?" asked Kim in mock surprise. "Shrewd."

Josh leaned over and leered dramatically. "I might just decide to run off with her kidnapper instead."

Kim felt flush at the suggestion. It was a decidedly un-Shego-like reaction and she decided they needed to stop this, now. She playfully punched Josh in the arm and then waved. "I think I'll go tell her that," she suddenly said, still feeling a little naughty.

Josh looked genuinely alarmed and Kim laughed as she vanished into the crowd.

---

Shego looked around the banquet hall and was actually a little impressed. This event was pretty swanky and she was a little ashamed that Drakken had heard about it but she hadn't. Though he had always been more connected to the 'community' than Shego had, considering she felt above a large majority of her 'peers.'

People were dancing and talking all throughout the room, dressed up in some of the most surprising of costumes that even made Drakken's Bo Peep costume look almost normal. Sprinkled along the walls were standing booths showing off some of HenchCo's new technologies, complete with booth operators trying to draw people's attentions just as if it were a convention. It was a little annoying, in Shego's opinion, but well worth it for getting to attend such a high class party for free.

Shego accidentally bumped into someone wearing a beige suit and turned to apologize the way Kim probably would. She started to open her mouth when the person she bumped into suddenly gasped.

"Kim Possible!" he said. Shego rolled her eyes.

"Oh, come on, it's Halloween," Shego said, annoyed. She looked at who she ran into and blinked. "Monty?"

"Oh," Monkey Fist said awkwardly. "O-of course, I knew it was you, Shego."

Shego looked at his costume. "You're dressed up as yourself," she pointed out, a little confused.

"No, I'm dressed up as the lowly creature I _used_ to be!" Monty said boldly.

"Right, so you're dressed up as yourself..." Shego repeated.

"My former self," Monty corrected again.

Shego sighed. "Everyone I know is crazy, aren't they?" she asked, rhetorically.

Monty looked at Shego with an appreciative nod. "You do pull off the teen punk quite well, though you're a little taller. And..." he struggled. "You know." He guestured impotently at Shego's chest area.

"What, are you also dressed up as a six year old?" Shego asked. "You can say it. I have bigger boobs than the twit." She shrugged. "It's not like I'm going to get offended."

"Hrm, right," grumbled Monty. "Well, it's... er, good to see you."

"Whatever."

The two villains turned away from each other a tried to separate as naturally as possible. Shego caught a glimpse of Drakken talking with Duff Killigan as she walked. They appeared to be discussing the specifics of each other's costumes. Drakken was motioning towards his robotic sheep and Duff was gesturing wildly at the golf clubs he was carting behind him having apparently dressed up as his own caddy.

Shego decided then that better conversation was likely to be had talking to the booth operators.

---

Kim was dancing with an awkward Drakken to some upbeat music when the Kimmunicator rung. Kim went to her pocket instinctively then realized she had none. She wondered how Shego ever carried anything around with her. Perhaps she wore coats everywhere and just took them off when she was about to commit a crime.

Ron pulled out the Kimmunicator and held it so they both could see.

"What's the sitch, Nerdlinger?" asked Kim.

"Kim?" asked Wade on the other end. Or at least, she assumed it was Wade on the other end, he was apparently dressed as a mummy.

"Sorry, just acting in character," said Kim with a sheepish grin. "I didn't mean to offend."

"It's fine, I was just surprised by your Shego and Drakken costumes," said Wade.

"So, really, what's the sitch?" asked Kim.

"The Crown Diamond was stolen this morning," said Wade.

"The same diamond that was on display at the Upperton Museum?" asked Kim.

"The same," nodded Wade. "Here's the security footage from the getaway." Wade's face was replaced by black and white video of the roof of the museum showing a helicopter. A man scampered up to it, dressed in black with a very muscular upper body, and jumped in. A few moments later it took off and flew away. Wade reversed the footage and stopped it showing a frame of the thief in clear view. A series of green lines wrapped around the thief, then the picture disappeared leaving only the model of the thief behind.

"He looks familiar," said Ron.

"He should," said Wade. The 3d model then turned, estimating for body proportions that couldn't be seen in the video. Then a series of pictures of Kim's enemies flashed to the side of the model before finally stopping on one that the screen then reported was 99.8 percent body match.

"Senior Senior Junior," said Kim.

"Why does he need to steal a diamond?" asked Ron. "Isn't he already richer than everyone?"

"It's not just any diamond, Ron," said Wade, appearing on screen again. "It's one of the largest perfect diamonds in the world, rivaling the Hope Diamond."

Ron shrugged. "Bling is bling," he said.

"Got a lead on where Junior is now, Wade?" asked Kim.

Wade nodded. "He's listed on the guest list for a HenchCo Halloween party going on in Upperton right now."

"Well, at least he didn't go far," said Ron. "Maybe he just needed it for his costume."

"Don't be silly, Ron," said Kim.

---

Shego looked at the booth display with more than a little discomfort. In the glass box in the center of the display was an odd looking gun with a series of canisters on each side of it. The sign on it read: "Personality Adjustment Gun! Turn your enemies' quirks into a lifestyle!" She shivered. It was always mind control with these guys.

"Interested in the RB6000, huh?" said the booth operator. He was a tallish man who was somewhat egg shaped, complete with shaved head, and he had a small black patch of hair on his chin. His suit was expensive, as everyone who worked for HenchCo was provided. "It's a personality suppressor ray, based on our earlier, discontinued product, the 'Attitudinator.' One shot from this bad boy and your target's conscious personality will be immediately suppressed and you'll be able to imprint a new one based on specific visual and somatic cues. Excellent for troublesome henchmen and pesky heroes alike. Wanna place an order?"

"Absolutely not," said Shego, emphatically. "Why do guys keep making these things when all they end up doing is screwing us over in the end?" She shook her head. "I'm sure I don't need to tell you what happened to Electronique."

"Actually, Electronique was a consultant on the RB6000 project thanks to her new attitude towards team playing," said the man with a smirk. He held out his massive hand. "I'm John Bork, senior design analyst."

Shego looked at the hand like it was alien. "I'm completely disinterested." She lied. In truth she wanted to know everything she could about the gun so she could ensure she was never within its area of effect. Too many times she'd been made to suffer at the hands of some variant of the Attitudinator. "Did you at least fix her after you were done milking her for information?"

"She seems pretty happy as she is right now," said John.

"Of COURSE she does, she's been mind controlled you moron," snapped Shego. "She can't remember what she wants."

"Does that matter?" asked the slimy man. "All she **can** remember makes her happy."

Shego's hands started to glow. "You're disgusting," she said darkly. She raised her hand in a threatening manner but the egg man just looked back, coolly. She grit her teeth then reluctantly extinguished her flames. "And you're apparently too stupid to fear for your life like a normal person." She turned and walked away as fast as she could without being obvious. She looked over her shoulder after she'd gotten a good number of paces away to make sure the jerk hadn't taken the gun out of its box with intent to use it on her. He seemed distracted by another person that had come up to the display, which relieved her.

"Hey, Shego!" said a cheery voice.

Shego faced forward again just in time to avoid running into a big man in all black. She looked up at the face, which was the only indicator of who people were this evening. "Junior," she said.

The young billionaire was head to toe in a nice black outfit with a collar, and white gloves. He almost appeared respectful if not for the goofy grin he had and the fact that while in one hand he was holding what looked like a large diamond, the other hand held tiny wiener wrapped in pastry.

"Enjoying the party?" Junior asked.

"Less and less, as it turns out," Shego said. All things considered, for all his infantile desires, Junior was probably the most tolerable person in the room. He at least respected her and her abilities, something even Drakken couldn't be relied on for on a regular basis.

"Nice Kim Possible costume," he said.

"Whatever," said Shego. Really, she thought her costume would make a bigger splash than it did. She should have known better considering how self centered this crowd was, most were walking around bragging about their own brilliant costumes which were, in her opinion, not fitting with the theme of the night. Speaking of which...

"What are you supposed to be?" she asked.

"Sir Charles Lytton," said Junior.

Shego blinked. "Say what?"

"The Phantom, the suave gentleman thief who stole the Pink Panther diamond in the Peter Sellers film," said Junior, he waved the diamond in his hand for emphasis, then popped the wiener in his mouth. Shego felt the words were completely incongruous with the man saying them and was nearly floored by the cognitive dissonance. She quickly latched upon an explanation.

"Your father picked your costume, didn't he?"

Junior reluctantly nodded. "He still doesn't think I'm much of a thief," he said sadly. Then he looked up. "But I did manage to get this without his help."

"What? A prop diamond?" asked Shego.

"It's no prop," Junior said proudly. "It's the Crown Diamond."

Shego looked closer at the 'prop' and then blinked. It did indeed look like the actual Crown Diamond, which stunned her. Either Junior actually managed to steal the third or fourth most famous diamond in the world or had stumbled upon the most impressive counterfeit she'd ever seen. She almost wished she had a loop with her to check the clarity.

Hang on, her mind stopped her. The Crown Diamond was in Upperton just yesterday, wasn't it? Her mind put together everything Junior had just told her and formed an unpleasant picture. She put a hand to her forehead to rub the rapidly growing headache.

"Junior," Shego said slowly. "Tell me you didn't just steal the Crown Diamond, in mid daylight, and then come straight here to this party."

"Um, why?" asked Junior uneasily.

"Nice costume, Princess," said a voice behind them.

Shego sighed, well that settled it, worst Halloween ever. She turned slowly to face the speaker and saw herself. Well, not exactly. It was herself but at little too short and a little less... endowed. Maybe the night wasn't lost yet.

"Same to you, Pumpkin," said Shego. "It's a good look for you." Kim had dressed up as her. On the same night she had dressed up as Kim. What were the odds? Shego eyes drifted over to the buffoon and noticed he was dressed up as Drakken. Ooh, boy. She took it back, this was the best night ever.

"You think so?" asked Kim moving her body in a slinky way Shego had NEVER seen Kim do before. "I like it. Why don't we complete backwards day and you just let me relieve you of that diamond?"

Shego felt she'd fallen into some weird alternate dimension. This was fun. She could care less about Junior's stupid prop. And yet... "Oh, please, like I'm going to let you steal something right in front of me."

"Just try and stop me," grinned Kim. She held out her hands like claws and prepared to pounce.

Shego took up a karate stance she'd seen the teen hero adopt before. "Bring it on." She motioned with her hand. Something was very wrong about what they were doing, but it was way too fun to think about now.

Kim launched herself at Shego and the battle began.

----

The battle quickly drew attention as the two girls fought with an energy rarely matched in their previous encounters. Many of the people at the party fled as soon as they noticed, knowing better than to hang around when a hero had arrived. Those more used to encountering Kim Possible on a semi-regular basis lingered longer, as they had noticed while Kim was fighting Shego –- in itself not an uncommon occurrence -– they were dressed as each other for some reason. This was determined to be something completely unheard of. As a result several camera phones were suddenly being held out to record the action.

----

Ron and Junior watched as the fight continued. Neither Kim nor Shego seemed to be in danger, strangely enough, and both were wearing very wide grins. Ron, starting to feel uncomfortable over this new development, looked to Junior, then to the diamond.

"Are we gonna have to fight over that too?" asked Ron, rather straightforwardly.

Junior looked at the diamond and then at Kim and Shego's violent dance. He wordlessly handed over the jewel to Ron.

"Thanks," said Ron.

"You!" A woman with a surprisingly deep and craggy voice shambled up to him while dragging what looked like a metal sheep behind her. Ron stared at the woman, completely unsure what to think. "What do you think you're doing?"

Ron considered that. "Standing?"

"With that _outfit,"_ stressed the scary woman.

Ron looked closer at the woman, skeptical that any woman could have such an ugly face. He narrowed his eyes. "Drakken?"

"Yes, yes," said Drakken, waving his hand. "This is about you, not me." He paused. "Well it sort of about me, but in a roundabout way."

"What?" Ron looked down at his costume. "I think I got it right, what's wrong?"

"What's WRONG is that you're wearing it!" announced Drakken.

"Oh," Ron nodded, understandably. "Well, I didn't really expect to run into you today when I put it on. Though that was probably silly. You cause trouble every Halloween."

"What do you mean?" Drakken frowned at Ron's words then turned and noticed Kim and Shego fighting. "Oh," he then said. "I don't have anything to do with that."

"She was defending the diamond, though," said Ron.

"What diamond?" asked Drakken, perplexed.

Ron held up the large rock. "This one."

"What would I need a diamond for, anyway?" asked Drakken, as if the answer was obvious. "Shego!"

Kim and Shego rolled past. "Busy!" replied the green one.

"Hrmph," mused Drakken. "Well, take it, whatever it is... and take off that outfit!"

----

Kim landed on her back and used her legs to throw Shego over her head into a nearby display case. While Shego climbed out of the cardboard and metal wreckage Kim used the few extra seconds to catch a breather. She was far from outclassed or even at all loosing the fight, but it did take a lot of energy to fight at her top performance for fifteen minutes.

Shego climbed up and leaned against a fallen metal display frame to breathe as well. The two young fighters stared at each other with just the hint of smile on each of their faces.

"Did you even have anything to do with that diamond?" asked Kim between breaths.

"Not really," admitted Shego. "But you can't expect me to ignore you crashing our party, and attempting to walk off with someone's loot."

Kim shrugged. "Fair enough." She straightened and planted her feet. "Ready?"

The dark haired villainess responded by kicking a piece of sharp metal at her then quickly diving after it. Kim dodged the shard and grabbed Shego's arms as they came within range. Again they wrestled across the floor.

In the wreckage of the display case, however, a disheveled figure in a ruined suit climbed out with a look a fury upon his face. Rubbing his shaved head, John Bork grit his teeth. His booth was destroyed, his clothes looked like he'd just picked them up off the street, and it was that annoying villain Shego and the notorious hero Kim who were to blame. This was totally unacceptable.

Pushing over the metal frame Shego had been leaning on earlier, Bork dug through the debris and, with a great deal of effort, yanked the RB6000 out from under a heavy slab of metal and fiberglass. He turned on the primer charge, cocked the gun, then, with a wild look in his eyes, stalked out to where the crowd was gathered around the fight.

----

Eventually Shego got tired of fighting in character and had begun flinging bolts of green energy at Kim as she ducked and dodged behind displays and podiums. This resulted in much of the rest of the remaining guests to either flee or risk being served as part of the barbeque. Nether Kim nor Shego paid it any mind and continued fighting until the cry game.

"Look out, KP!"

Kim looked up from Ron's warning just in time to see the man in the disheveled suit lift his large gun, level it at her, and pull the trigger. The blue bolt of energy that came from the gun seemed impossibly large as it very quickly raced towards her. Her life raced before her eyes as she assumed she'd be reduced to slag in the very near future. The she got struck in the chest...

And was thrown clear of the blue blast. She landed hard, and felt like her body was on fire. She coughed and heaved for air as she looked at the darkened scorch mark on her chest, still smoking from the impact. In an instant Ron was beside her and saying something but the ringing in her ears was drowning most of it out. She looked around in the daze until she saw Shego, jumping around and dodging bolts of blue energy while she flung her green ones back at the man holding the big gun.

"Kim!" Ron said again and managed to break through the ringing.

"What happened?" Kim said, blearily.

"Shego totally blasted you with her energy thingies to blow you away from that blue thingy," articulated Ron.

"She... saved me?" asked Kim, confused. Both she and Ron watched Shego try to close the distance with the man with the gun several times. Each time she was forced back to avoid getting hit by the blue balls of energy emitted from the gun.

Kim moved to stand up again but Ron restrained her. "Take it easy, KP," he said. "You just got—"

"We gotta stop that man," Kim said, pushing Ron's hands away. "I don't know what that gun does, but doesn't seem to like me or Shego." Kim turned back to Ron. "You try to get him from behind, I'll offer a distraction for Shego."

Ron made a grimace but eventually nodded. "Alright," he said hesitantly. He helped Kim to her feet and then ran towards the back of the banquet hall to discretely get behind the shooter. Kim dashed over towards Shego again, this time keeping her attention to the man with the gun. She dove behind nearby wreckage, drawing the man's attention.

"Don't let any of that crap touch you," warned Shego from behind nearby cover.

"What's it do?" asked Kim.

"Think Attitudinator," said Shego with obvious bile.

"Ugh," said Kim. They really need to make those things illegal.

"Exactly," groaned Shego. She peeked over her cover and nearly got her head taken off by one of the shots of energy. "I'm assuming that thing can't shoot forever."

A few more bolts of energy flew past.

"I wouldn't be so sure," said Kim. "Why is he shooting at us, again?"

"Damned if I know," shrugged Shego.

Kim sighed. She peeked from behind her cover and cupped her hand to her mouth. "Hey, what's—" then she quickly had to duck back again or get shot.

"Charming, isn't he?" said Shego.

----

John Bork was somewhat aware that he had let himself get a little out of control. He had always been a control freak and having his display and dignity ruined in one blow from someone who couldn't care less, irked him more than he cared to recognize. Now, though, he was firing company property at potential customers. Well, custom_er_. But much of that thought was lost in the thrill of shooting everything up like a madman. One does not end up working for HenchCo without harboring some very deep rooted envy of being bad.

Unfortunately, the head rush from the wanton firing distracted Bork from noticing the alarm saying the priming unit was overloading, or the damage to the transfer housing thanks to the display case falling on it.

He did notice, however, when the gun exploded in his hand, flinging him out of the room, through the window, and into the alley. A rapidly expanding sphere of blue light erupted from the device at the same time and quickly bathed the entire room in its azure glow.

Something else happened next, but everyone was unconscious, so nobody saw it.

----

Author's Note: This is a little late for Halloween, but I ran into a snag where the word doc of this story and me ended up separated by 450 miles. We were reunited today. Sorry if this isn't as polished as it should be, I plan on going back to fix grammar/spelling once this short story is over.

Thanks for reading!


	2. Getting More Comfortable

2. Getting More Comfortable

Kim stumbled out of the convention center over to the street and leaned on a nearby car while she held her head. The city spun and twisted in her vision and she had to screw her eyes shut to keep the dizzying images from turning her stomach. Each breath burned as it coursed down her throat and she began to cough, falling to her knees.

"What's going on?" she moaned as she cradled her head. She could barely remember what had happened. She was at a ... party? And there was a fight. She was fairly certain she was in the fight. Was that why she felt so bad? Had she lost?

Something inside of her rejected that. She couldn't lose. Not against... against...? Who was she fighting?

"Move along."

Kim's head throbbed from the sudden loud noise and she clutched her ears to steady her world. Reluctantly she looked up to see a bleary figure in a uniform leering down at her. She was at least sixty percent sure that it was her eyes that were bleary and not the man, but she reserved judgment until more data came in.

"What?" spat Kim, annoyed at this blurry figure interrupting her attempts to stop the spinning.

"Been drinking, have you?" asked the man, who Kim was now sure was a fuzzy looking cop. "How old are you, little lady?"

Kim sighed heavily and shook her head gently from side to side. She did not have any patience for this right now. She was... in a hurry? Yes, a hurry. She was always in a hurry, wasn't she? It was such a pain. Never a break, never a chance to relax, read some magazines, watch some TV, file her nails. No. She always was on the move, from one side of the earth to the other. To save the lives of _other people_, no less, and this cop wanted to hassle her for 'looking' drunk when she was really having a mind bending headache.

"Buzz off, I'm just sick," Kim groaned.

The cop moved closer to her and looked down. "Why don't you come along with me, honey? We'll take a trip to the station and we can call your folks."

Kim grit her teeth. What would it take to get this cop to back off? Kim swallowed the bile building in her throat and stood swiftly. The cop took a step back but Kim stepped forward to match. "I said—"

With a twist of her foot, Kim swung her foot around clipping the cop at the knees. The man yelped in pain just before she switched her stance and drove her knee into the man's chin. Like a doll the man collapsed onto his back unconscious.

"Yeah, I heard what you said," Kim said.

The door to the convention center swung open suddenly and Kim raised her hands in a defensive posture. A moment later, Ron stumbled out and moved about in a slanted posture before suddenly straightening himself. He looked around.

"What happened?" he said loudly. He started to move towards Kim but was stopped when he kicked a body lying on the floor. "Who's that?"

"Nobody," shrugged Kim. "You got a headache too?"

Ron rubbed his forehead. "Like a jackhammer between the eyes."

"Let's get outta here," Kim motioned with her hand. "Get in."

Ron examined the car she was circling. "That's not your car."

Kim walked around to the driver's side and used her elbow to break the window. "I have a key."

Ron shook his head. "Kim! There's at least a dozen more elegant ways to break into a car than with your fist!"

"Meh," said Kim as she got into the car and reached over to open the passenger door. She looked through the opening at Ron with a bored expression as she hotwired the car. Ron grumbled something and climbed into the car, managing to get his door almost closed before Kim gunned off throwing him into his seat.

"Kiiiiiiiim!" Ron shouted angrily.

"Heh," laughed Kim as they drove off into the night.

---

Shego's head felt like it weighed a hundred pounds as she gently lifted it off the ground and looked around. Bodies littered the banquet hall in various positions around a huge black scorch mark on the floor. She tried to remember what had happened but found it hard to think. Whatever had hit her had scattered her thoughts.

Getting onto her knees, Shego winced as she felt shooting pains down her side where she had fallen. Gritting her teeth, she crawled over to the nearest person, a stocky individual wearing black. She felt his chest and was relieved to find it gently moving up and down. Then she searched him for a phone, feeling nothing in her pockets to indicate she had one of her own.

Pulling a diamond studded brick out of the man's pocket she pulled it apart at a seam to reveal a flip phone with a blackened screen and broken buttons. She sighed. Whatever had happened to them had apparently taken out their electronics as well. Shego was vaguely able to remember a fight, one that she was possibly part of. She wondered if she won or lost. Given her state and the appearance of the room, it was likely she lost. Though the diamond crusted device in her hand seemed to indicate the argument wasn't over money.

Tossing the phone aside, Shego carefully stepped between the sleeping bodies towards a pair of large double doors on the wall. Her mind swam, but she started to remember more. She was fighting someone... her nemesis? Yes, and then someone else got in the way and they both began fighting... him? It was hard to think about details like that, so Shego tried to remember more about what she was doing here. It definitely appeared to be a party. She was an invitee, she was sure. Many people appeared to be in costume, was she?

She looked down at her clothes. A memory triggered in her that grew in strength with each second longer she stared down at the cargo pants and black shirt. Two lives appeared in her mind's eye, diverged upon a path years before, but never far from each other's view. She questioned which one she stood on, and felt confused. She thought she knew, but maybe... maybe she was mistaken. Maybe she had been confused, and now was starting to see more clearly.

She reached the doors and opened them, venturing into the rest of the convention center to find someone to call for help. She got three steps outside of the banquet when she heard a car peel away loudly outside. Shego ran towards the sound.

Outside she found a pair of skid marks on the road and an unconscious police officer on the pavement. Down the street she could see a pair of red taillights quickly becoming smaller in the distance. Someone had just made a fast getaway. She looked back to the man at her feet. Probably an unlucky patrolman who came to investigate the sound of the explosion, she figured. She moved to feel for a pulse but the man groaned before she touched him.

"Are you alright?" Shego asked, reaching out to help the man sit up. His face was bruised and he was slowly bleeding from his nose. She looked off in the direction of the taillights, which had no become too small to see.

"Ib thimb my node is boken," said the policeman, reaching up and gingerly touching his nose. He winced as his fingers made contact.

"Don't touch it," Shego advised, turning back to the man. "Who attacked you?"

"A gurl," said the man. Shego looked at him skeptically. "Ab beeg gurl."

"Riiight," Shego said. "You have a radio? There are some people in bad shape inside." She motioned towards the building.

The officer pulled out his radio. "Tube tube sebin tub stabin," he slurred into his radio.

"Repeat?" the radio chirped.

"Thus ib tube tube sebin."

Shego rolled her eyes. She took the radio from the cop. "Hello? I'm sitting here with a downed officer, who I think was trying to say two-two-seven."

"Please identify yourself and your location," the voice came back.

Shego hesitated slightly. "We're at the Tri-city convention center. There's been an explosion and there are people injured here. Send ambulances."

"Emergency response personnel are on their way," said the voice on the radio in a kind manner. "Please stay on the radio until they arrive."

Shego put the radio back in the cop's hand. She patted him on the back. "Sorry," she said, a little uncomfortable with the words coming out of her mouth. She did what she could, but the police were not bound to be understanding of her presence here, considering she'd yet to serve the full sentence for any crime she'd been convicted of.

"Waib--" started the cop, but Shego didn't hesitate as she turned on her foot and ran off.

---

Mr. Dr. Possible adjusted his tie as he descended the stairs to the first floor of his home. It was a bright new day. Halloween was over without his house being covered in toilet paper or eggs, the stock of candy was enough to satisfy the trick or treaters, and best of all there were at least six kids dressed up as scientists thoughout the night. Sure, most of them hadn't decided what field of science they were pursuing, and there was the one kid who believed a rocket scientist was the Rocketeer, but all in all...

Dr. Possible walked past the front door as he was turning at the foot of the stairs to head towards the kitchen when something caught his eye. He stopped and walked up to the door and peered out the half-circle of glass in the top half of the door. He blinked. Then he rubbed his eyes and looked again.

"Honey!" he called.

A minute later, Mrs. Dr. Possible came in from the kitchen holding two cups of coffee. She handed one to her husband and sipped from her own. "What's wrong, sweetheart?"

"Well, I'm not sure if it's a post-sugar depression from the chocolate eggs I had last night, but it appears to me as if there's a car out in front of the house," explained Mr. Dr. Possible. He sipped from his cup as he tried to puzzle the quandary.

"That's not too uncommon," replied Mrs. Dr. Possible, shrugging. "The neighbors sometimes have guests and they park in front of our house all the time."

Mr. Dr. Possible nodded as if considering this new information. "That's true, however, they rarely park on the lawn."

Mrs. Dr. Possible started then turned to peek out the window and saw a car on the lawn with broken windows. "Okay," she agreed. "That's uncommon. Though not unheard of."

"No, but decidedly not preferred."

"Definitely not."

"You think this has something to do with Kimmiecub?"

"Not really her style," hedged Mrs. Dr. Possible.

"Still," Mr. Dr. Possible looked up the stairs. "Kimmiecub!"

"What?" Kim's voice trickled down the stairs.

"There's a car on the front lawn."

"It's not mine!"

Mr. and Mrs. Drs. Possible looked at each other. "You knew there was a car in the front lawn?" Mrs. Dr. Possible called.

"Pretty hard to miss, Mom," Kim called back.

Mr. Dr. Possible nodded. "This is true. I'll call a tow truck." He headed for the kitchen and sipped his coffee again.

Mrs. Dr. Possible continued to stare up the stairs and frowned deeply. The doorbell then rang, breaking her from her reverie. She turned and opened the door to find Ron on the other side dressed in a dark blue trenchcoat over an all black shirt and pants.

"Good morning, Ron," said Mrs. Dr. Possible. "Going to another Halloween party today?"

"AAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAHA!"

"Please, Ron, don't laugh maniacally on the front porch."

"Sorry," nodded Ron. Mrs. Dr. Possible motioned for him to come in and he headed up the stairs, quietly laughing to himself all the way.

---

Shego stumbled into the lair and rubbed her eyes as she felt around for the kitchen. It was late. No, it was early. The sun was rising and she was only just getting home. She could hardly remember the last time she'd been out so late. Everything seemed awkward and strange, as if she was off her groove. She ran through the night's events in her head to see if anything stood out as odd to attribute to her funk.

Well, first there was that party. Dozens of HenchCo clients in one place, she should have realized things were going to go south. She hadn't expected to see Kim Possible, but she supposed since she had dressed up like her she was glad she got the opportunity to show her work off. And Possible dressing up like her? Incredible. It was a good fight between them.

Then there was whatever that explosion was, probably the gun that the HenchCo guy was using. Serves him right, trying to change her personality, she was glad it blew up in his hands. The world was a better place without such a weapon.

After leaving the convention she found quick escape in Drakken's hovercraft, right where they'd left it earlier in the evening. Shego considered herself fortunate, she hadn't seen Drakken when she woke up and it was possible the blue man had taken the flier without her. She wondered if he'd been picked up by the police. They would probably have gotten a good laugh out of his Bo Peep outfit.

Shego found the kitchen and pulled out several bottles and began mixing herself a drink. Sure, it was technically the morning, but she'd been up all night so she decided it was night enough for her. She searched for a proper martini glass and came up short, settling for an old brandy sniffer that she found in a box from Drakken's mother's house. There were also a collection of bottle caps inside and a freaky setting of dead butterflies under glass. She chose not to investigate the box any further.

Sitting down at her regular computer console with her freshly made martini, Shego propped her feet up and continued her mental recapping of the night. After flying off in Drakken's hovercraft, she began searching for the car that had sped off from the convention center. She'd had a vague glimpse of the vehicle as she got outside, which probably wasn't good enough to make a proper ID, but if they were in such a hurry to leave the convention center she hoped they'd be breaking other traffic laws across the city.

She didn't have any luck, but she did come across a mugging in progress which she swiftly stopped. The victim had been an old woman who looked to be about seventy and was wearing enough gaudy gold rings and sapphires to fill a dumpster. The mugger probably thought he'd found an easy target, but Shego schooled him right.

Then there was the fire on the southeast end of the city, further distracting her from her search for the car. The smoke was impossible to ignore at the height Shego was flying at, so she quickly came over and lent the firemen a hand evacuating a few trapped kids on the roof of the building. It was no big deal, but she got a little scorched and had to dump her red wig as it had started to melt.

After that, Shego hoped she'd be able to get back on the trail of the car, however cold it was now, but she just happened upon another high speed chase with the Middleton police pursuing a Bonnie and Clyde type couple in a sports coupe. The car didn't fit the mental image of the car at the convention but Shego decided to help anyway, as long as she was in the area. She flew her hovercraft over the kids and plucked the passenger out of his seat before swooping around to land in front of the chase, forcing the woman driver to stop. The police were thankful for Shego's help and thankfully did not inquire deeply as to why she was flying a hovercraft over the city at two o'clock in the morning.

Before she could make herself scarce, though, she heard over a cop's radio a federal request for officers to come to a camp on the state border where a kidnapper had holed himself up in a motel with a shotgun and a young girl. The feds were looking for support from the surrounding areas to lock down the area. Shego hated to give up on the car from the convention center but she knew there was no chance of catching it now. She flew to see if she could help the feds.

Shego drank the last of her drink and sighed. Yup, a regular night for her. She couldn't figure out why she felt so strange, but decided she might feel better after some sleep, and headed for her room.

---

Kim came down to the dinner table to find her family sitting there already.

"What's the sitch?"

"Kimmiecub, I think we need to talk a bit about your... behavior these last few days," Mr. Dr. Possible started, awkwardly.

"What do you mean?" Kim said. She put her hand to her hip and refused to sit down.

"Well, there's the late nights," started Mr. Dr. Possible.

"I'm always out late, no big," shrugged Kim.

"And the laughter coming out of your room," said Mrs. Dr. Possible.

"I'm always laughing, what's odd about that?"

"Well, maybe laughing is too soft a word," hedged Mrs. Dr. Possible. "More like cackling."

"And there's the matter of the car in the front lawn," continued Mr. Dr. Possible.

"This again? I told you that wasn't mine."

"No, I mean the new one that showed up last night."

"Oh," said Kim. She looked over her shoulder. "That's not mine either."

"Also, it looks like Ron is building a death trap over the pond in the back yard," Mrs. Dr. Possible said while peering out the window into the backyard.

"I told him he needed practice," said Kim. "He's all style and no practicality." Her parents stared at her. "Is this an intervention?" Her voice took up a mock tragic tone.

"Kimmiecub..." stared Mr. Dr. Possible.

"So not the drama," said Kim. "I don't know what you guys are worried about, but I'm fine. Everything's normal."

"Wade says you've been ignoring your Kimmunicator," said Tim suddenly, looking more solemn than the twins normally got.

"And we haven't seen you on the news recently," continued Jim.

"Not everything I do is newsworthy," explained Kim with an annoyed tone. "And the world is not going to fall apart if I ignore a few annoying calls from ner-- er-- _Wade_ to stop a shoplifter or jaywalker. He needs to get a grip."

A loud boom suddenly vibrated through the house followed by the sounds of maniacal laughter from the back yard. "So, we're done here, right? I gotta rein Ron back in before he blows something up before we're ready." Kim swiftly turned and headed for the back door.

The family watched her go then faced each other off over the dinner table. Tim pulled his hand out from under the table and laid out the Kimmunicator where everyone could see. Wade's face was already on it and he was nodding ominously.

"Something's definitely wrong," said Wade.

"Were you able to get a scan?" asked Mrs. Dr. Possible.

"No, she never sat at the table so she wasn't close enough," explained Wade. "But you should definitely try to run some tests on her."

"I have a feeling it's going to be hard to get her to lie down for a random MRI."

"You may have to force her," said Wade.

The Drs. Possible looked at each other uneasily.

"What happened to her?" asked Tim.

"I'm not sure, but I'm fairly certain it had something to do with HenchCo's Halloween party," said Wade. "The police report said there was some sort of explosion and afterwards people were acting strange. Could have been a mind switch, or an emotion changer, or attitude adjuster, or de-evolution gun."

"De-evolution gun?" Jim and Tim said in unison.

"Hasn't happened yet, but there's no saying it couldn't," Wade pointed out.

"Well, we need to do something," said Mrs. Dr. Possible.

"First step is the scan," started Wade.

---

Kim and Ron stood with their backs to the house, facing the pond and the spinning tops of doom being precariously balanced on a stand on top of it. They were staring at an etch-a-sketch with a large box of electronics attached to it that Ron was holding in his hands. It was showing a black and white image of Wade, apparently the same image being projected to the Kimmunicator.

"—after that I'll process the results and let you know what we're dealing with," finished Wade. The image flickered slightly and momentarily filled with static.

Kim scowled. "Ron," she warned.

"It's finicky," explained Ron. "Tapping into the Kimmunicator signal with these inferior toys was not easy." He struck it once on the side and the signal cleared up.

"I'll see if I can track down anyone else similarly affected from the party," said Wade. "Unfortunately, HenchCo isn't being forthcoming with the invite list. Let me know when you've got Kim." The screen then went dark.

"You'll be waiting a while, nerdlinger," said Kim. "No way am I being anyone's _test subject_ because of a misguided notion of what I'm _supposed _to be like."

"It seems we'll need some new digs," said Ron. He looked thoughtful for a moment. "I have an idea." He started to walk off. "I'll be back!"

---

A dark figure stalked through the display hall of the Middleton Gallery, gingerly avoiding the trip lasers and saying out of sight from the motion detectors. The figure's motions were deliberate and smooth, but hardly swift. The slow crawl towards the glass case at the end of the hall was menacingly long, but eventually the figure reached the case, disarmed the security latch, and gently removed the transparent shell revealing the star sapphire within.

The figure grinned as he snaked his hand out.

"I really don't think that's yours."

The figure froze then turned to look down the hall. A slight of a woman, bathed in shadow, was standing on the opposite end of the hall. "Kim Possible?" said the figure.

"Not quite," said the woman, who stepped forward, revealing her long wavy black hair and pale skin.

"Shego?"

"That voice sounds familiar," mused Shego with a smile. "Is that Junior?"

The figure straightened and pulled off his mask revealing Senior Senior Junor's bright smile. "It seems I can't fool you," he said, flashing his teeth.

"Stealing jewels? That's a bit of a step down from the Tower of London, isn't it?"

"Are you here to get a cut?" asked Junior.

"Nope, I'm here to stop you," announced Shego. "I'd stopped you sooner, but I kinda wanted to catch you in the act."

"Stop me? Why?" asked Junior.

"Well, lemme just think," Shego held out her hand and began ticking off fingers. "Breaking and entering, trespassing, grand larceny, should I go on?"

"Since when do you care?"

Shego hesitated, that question had come up again. She'd always had cared, right? She felt that she had, and yet her memories often felt like sharks swimming in bloodied waters. At every unguarded moment one would leap to her conscious and remind her of times she'd stolen, or kidnapped, or threatened. It shamed her and at the same time endlessly nagged at her. What could she have been thinking at those times? What could she been thinking these last five years?

"I care today," was all Shego could say in response without lying. "Now let's take a trip downtown."

"I do not want to," said Junior. "And besides, you're way over there, and I've got my hands on the prize already."

Shego put her hand to her chin contemplatively. "Hmm, you are right about that. What could I possibly do to make sure you don't escape?" Then she casually shifted her weight and swung her foot slightly out in front of her, tripping a security laser.

A series of klaxons and sirens resounded through the hall as windows began shutting and exit doors locked in response to the alarm. Shego smiled. "Whoops! Was that me?"

Junior looked up as the skylight above him rattled with the sound of steel bars crashing closed. He sighed and then grabbed the sapphire in his palm and weighed it experimentally. With a twist at his waist he threw the jewel forcefully at Shego who caught it instinctively. She looked down in surprise at the sparkling gem.

"You're quite clever, dame," said Junior suddenly speaking in a British accent. "I wonder, though, if the police will think I'm robbing the place, or you? I do believe you have the better record for these things." With a touch of his finger to his brow, Junior dashed further into the gallery.

"Hey, wait! Dammit!" Shego cursed then ran off in pursuit.

---

The Drs. Possible quietly walked upstairs, moving nearly in unison. They wanted to present a united front in this matter, and both felt almost equally as slimy for even considering the plan they were now following. There was little choice, they believed, though that didn't make them feel much better.

Kim had steadfastly refused the health check up that Mrs. Dr. Possible suggested, and almost obsessively kept her back turned away from her collective parents whenever they were within arm's reach. Later, when Mr. Dr. Possible made a more earnest attempt to address Kim's slightly changes in attitude, he was rebuked with insistence from Kim that she was the same as she's ever been.

The twins had a plan that involved a fishing net and a pair of rockets, but the parents thought that was decidedly overboard. So now they had defaulted to plan... well, it was Plan J, by now. Plan J was the creepy one, which is why it had been regaled to the 'last resort' position. Plan J was, quite simply, sneak into Kim's room while she as sleeping and do the head scan before she woke up.

They had to wait until it was quite late before enacting their plan as their redheaded daughter had been staying up incredibly late these past few days. It was now just past one am, though, and the lack of sounds and darkened lights pointed to an ideal time to carry out the much reviled plan. With as much silence as they could manage, Mr. and Mrs. Dr. Possible stepped up the stairs to first the second floor of their home, and then, with even more caution, up to the loft where Kim's bedroom was.

All was dark and quiet in the room, and Mrs. Dr. Possible had to take extra care so as not to step on some errant toy or piece of makeup and make an unwelcomed noise. Mr. Dr. Possible had to take extra care so as not to walk into a wall, his night vision being not quite what it used to be before he took up a career staring into the exhaust cones of ignited rocket engines.

With silence that would fool the dead, the two parents stepped up to the bed. Mrs. Dr. Possible wielded the Kimmunicator like a knife, slowly drawing it from her belt and swinging it over the top of the bed. She depressed the center red button on the device and winced as it whirred softly, hoping the noise wouldn't wake their daughter. A green grid projected from the Kimmunicator and scanned up and down and then side to side with a dull hum. Then, when it was done, it went black again.

Uncomfortably, the parents slowly backed out of the room and down the stairs again. They looked at each other for an instant but then immediately turned away. Mrs. Dr. Possible turned on the Kimmunicator again, this time to call Wade.

"What's it look like, Wade?" asked Mrs. Dr. Possible, unable to wait much longer.

Wade looked back with an even expression. "Well, normally I'd go on about analyzing data taking time and that the brain is a complex thing, so even if something was odd it could be impossible to tell if it was a crazy evil ray or just a simple headache, but... well, I already the results."

"So what's the diagnosis?" asked Mr. Dr. Possible.

"It's a pillow," said Wade.

Mrs. Dr. Possible blinked. "What?"

"You scanned a pillow," clarified Wade. "There was no head in the area you used the Kimmunicator."

The parents looked at each other in alarm and then ran up the stairs again, this time taking no effort to be quiet. When they reached Kim's room then turned on the lights and ran to the bed. There was a form under the covers, shaped like a girl, but it remained motionless even through the stomping and the lights. Mr. Dr. Possible grabbed the blanket and pulled it swiftly down revealing a series of pillows and a rolled up sweater.

"That's not good," remarked Mr. Dr. Possible.

---

"BOOOOYAHAHAHAHAH!" A voice echoed through the city at night followed by the rumbling of a very large ATV with gigantic wheels.

"Ugh," Kim Possible groaned as she put a hand to her forehead. "Give it a rest, Ron."

"Just you wait, Kimberly Ann, this hideout will be beyond awesome," announced Ron.

"Yeah, whatever, as long as it's not a motel six," Kim shook her head. "And do you gotta do the middle name thing? It's so annoying."

"Precision is the key to any great scheme," said Ron.

"There's not a big chance I'm going to be confused as to who you're talking to," said Kim. "Maybe you don't need to be that precise."

"'To whom'," corrected Ron. Kim rolled her eyes and looked out over the rooftops.

Then she perked up.

"Ron, turn right here," she said quickly. "Then head down a block."

"What? Why?"

"I see someone I'd like to have a conversation with," she grinned evilly.

---

Shego sat grumpily on the edge of a rooftop playing with the star sapphire in her hand. Things had gone pretty lousy tonight. In fact, on a scale of zero to ten, where zero was average and ten was complete suck, she ranked in at about 130.

She'd stopped Junior's theft of the gem, but had ended up with it herself. Entirely unintentionally, of course, she had just forgotten about the blue rock while she was chasing Junior and by the time she did remember she was holding it, they had long since left the gallery. The police were crawling all over the place when she went back to take a look and there was no way she could conceive of to return the rock without looking guilty.

Things might have been marginally better if both her and Junior had been caught in the police's headlights, but, no, during their fight a wild shot Shego had thrown managed to melt the bars on one of the windows, allowing the dark dressed burglar to escape from the building. Then it was a rooftop chase, which went well at first until Junior jumped through that window into the hotel. He vanished into a crowd of party-goers in formalwear and she hadn't managed to pick up his trail again after that.

With a sigh, she watched as the moonlight shined through the facets of the sapphire creating a delicate mottled blue pattern across her lap. She'd have to find a way of getting it back to the gallery or police tomorrow. Maybe she'd mail it or tie a note to it and drop it in the police station.

She was lost in her thoughts but not enough to miss the mild rumbling beneath her that was steadily growing in intensity. She got up and looked down the side of the building to see if something large was driving past. Instead she saw a gigantic three-wheeled vehicle driving straight up the side of the building and heading towards her. She leaped back and dashed away from the edge as the ATV rolled up over the ledge and slowed to a stop on the roof.

Kim Possible leapt down from the towering transport and landed before Shego with a self-satisfied smile.

"Fancy meeting you here," she said slyly. Her eyes travelled down Shego to the large rock in her hand. "Oh, is that for me?"

"Kimmie," said Shego, still shocked at Kim's untraditional entrance. "What's wrong, hairdryer broken?"

"I went for the upgrade," said Kim, patting the giant front wheel of the vehicle behind her. "It was a bit of a splurge but it's worth it in the long run."

"So, you've come for this?" asked Shego, waving the sapphire.

"Only if you want to give it to me," shrugged Kim. "Why? You steal it?" She laughed.

Shego didn't look amused.

"I thought I remembered _you_ being the ironic one," said Kim. "You're much less chatty than you are in my memories."

"You're much more flamboyant," said Shego looking up at the ATV.

"I've always liked to make an entrance." Kim said. "But I've come to ask you a question."

"Oh really?" asked Shego in a mocking tone. "The mighty princess has a question for me?"

"I do," nodded Kim. "Straight up. No tricks."

"Uh-huh," Shego humored.

"I've been thinking lately," said Kim. "And I don't see why we always got to fight."

"Well, we stand on opposite sides of the law," Shego said plainly. "That tends to lead to conflict." Shego was quite certain they had originally stood on opposite sides of the line when it came to legality. Her memories just were fuzzy on which side she was on.

"Yes, and it's about that very matter I think we should talk," said Kim. "We should work together."

"You and me?" said Shego, scoffing. "Together? Don't make me laugh."

"I don't see why I never saw it before," said Kim. "You and me could be an unstoppable team."

"Hey!" came a voice from above.

"Deal with it!" Kim called up to the seat of the ATV.

"Join forces?" asked Shego.

"That's right," said Kim. "Can't you see it? We're two of the best fighters the world over. If it wasn't for this stupid issue over ethics, we'd have already done it. And, frankly, I'm thinking the side I used to fight for is overrated. So let's give a go. What do you say?"

Shego frowned. This whole thing made her very uneasy. She did recognize and appreciate Kim's ability, and they could do a whole lot of good together if they joined forces. "I don't know..."

"What's there to think about?" exclaimed Kim, throwing her hands into the hair. "We could have it all, Shego. The world could be a our oyster. World domination would be within our grasp!"

"World domination?" said Shego, surprised. "What about helping people?"

"Meh, the world helps those who help themselves," said Kim. "I'd like to help myself to some more money and power."

"We should fight together _against_ crime, not to cause it!" shouted Shego. "You've always been a hero."

"It's really a pain in the ass," said Kim. "Good is overrated. Let's do evil."

"I can't do that," said Shego.

"Please, nothing's stopped you before," said Kim with a laugh.

Shego shook her head. This conversation was backwards and making her head hurt. "I'm not going to let you run rampant across the world."

"You're going to stop me from being evil?" asked Kim, perplexed. "Since when?"

"I'm a good guy, hello!"

"Not since you left Team Go!" said Kim. "And this switch is pretty convenient, I might add. Suddenly you want to be a hero again once I come around and offer you a chance to be great. I think you just don't want to share the spotlight."

"It's not convenient at all," said Shego. "Something must be wrong with you, you've never been interested in being a villain before."

"Me? Something is wrong with _you_!" said Kim. "You're the queen of villainy! Not some scrappy hero."

"Liar!" yelled Shego. She still felt so insecure about her conflicting memories, and having Kim Possible, of all people, bring it up filled her with rage.

"You're the liar, I've never cared about being good," said Kim.

"You have too!"

"Have not!"

The two girls went back and forth trading vocal jabs several times before ending up in a silent staring contest. Shego was gritting her teeth while Kim was balling her fists in anxiety.

"Fine," Kim snapped after a minute. "See if I ever offer you anything ever again."

"Fine by me if you keep your opinions to yourself," said Shego.

"Kimberly!" Ron called from above. "We must go before someone sees up here."

Kim narrowed her eyes at Shego, then turned away.

"Yeah, go ahead and run," scoffed Shego as Kim climbed back into the ATV. Without another shout the vehicle started again and sped off over the edge of the building and down the side.

Shego watched her leave and seethed. Little miss princess thinks she's so smart. Well, Shego would show her one better. In fact, she'd become the greatest hero the world had ever known, just to show her.

Though doing so might require a little help. Fortunately, she knew just the people to talk to about it.


	3. The New Team Players

3. The New Team Players

---

Shego threw her weight to the side to help the struggling hovercraft tilt enough to squeeze between the narrow alley way as she played slalom with skyscrapers in downtown Middleton at night. She was desperately trying to catch up with the helicopter that had taken off from the Middleton Federal Reserve only minutes before but was so far failing to close even an inch of the distance. She cursed the thieves, the cursed herself for not stopping the thieves at the bank, and she cursed the stupid hovercraft she was riding which, after two full weeks of using it as her primary means of getting about the city on her hero quest, was starting to look a little long in the tooth. It no longer kept up speed reliably and even maintaining proper balance required an awful lot of manual adjustment.

Not that that mattered particularly much right now as she wrenched the hovering disc again, this time tipping it in the opposite direction, to scrape through an opening between an office building and an apartment high-rise. As soon as she was through she tried to straighten the damnable thing and looked around to find out where the thieves had gone. She scanned the skyline quickly but did not see them. She looked more closely and still found nothing. She stopped and stared into the distance for several minutes, then cursed loudly and stomped her foot in aggravation on the deck of the hovercraft...

...which, naturally, caused the craft to tip again, and begin a rapid dive towards the hard concrete below. Shego threw herself onto the controls to pull it out of its uncontrolled dive and only managed to pull the nose of it up just before crashing it into the street below.

Shego crawled from the wreckage and felt her bruised ribs. She was lucky her constitution was better than that of an average person's or she'd probably have collapsed from the impact. Still, her ribs hurt and she wouldn't be surprised if a few were cracked or at least bruised. She took several labored breathes as she stared at the wreckage.

Yeah, it was official. Despite her unequivocal resolution to become the very best hero the world over she was pretty lousy at stopping criminals on her own. Maybe it was karma, maybe it was fate tying to tell her villainy is her calling, or maybe it was just lack of practice, but something had stacked up heavily against her and she wasn't very pleased about it. She wanted to have an edge again. She wanted to be feared.

She'd put it off as long as she could, but it was time to bit the bullet and make the trip -– which would now pretty much _have_ to be by train –- to visit her family.

---

The train out the coast was long and slow, testing every one of Shego's nerves as it stopped at least a dozen times on the way, and every person who sat near her felt like relating either the story of their lives or dispense unlicensed medical advice on how to soften the green 'tinge' on her skin. Furthermore, why did it appear only old people rode on trains? Were airplanes only for the hipsters?

When the locomotive finally rolled into Harbor Station in downtown Go City, she couldn't wait to get out of the coffin of old spice and poor company and into nice open air. She leapt from the train car and onto the platform, her single bag slung casually over her back, and sighed in relief as she strode out of the station. Her breath nearly froze in place in the air and she felt frost form on her extremities in the ten-degree weather but she kept her cool, seeing as the only other option was to freeze.

"Geeze, why is it so damn cold?" Shego said, staring up at the clouds. It was not nearly this bad in Middleton when she left and while, yes, she was further north now, it seemed like quite a drastic change from the Midwest late autumn she was just in. Staring at the other people leaving the station, she noticed many of them seemed under dressed for the weather and a little surprised at the breeze. At least she wasn't alone.

She looked up at the skyline and thought about her old stomping grounds. There was little nostalgia in her heart, having long associated this place with stubborn brothers and idiotic villains that she was thankful to be rid of. And yet, fate drew her back time after time. First when her brother's powers were stolen by Aviarius, and then again a year later when she and her brothers were tricked by Electronique. Then today, back for a much different reason than either of those occasions.

She turned towards the harbor and walked casually towards the ferries. She figured the best place to find her brothers would be in GO Tower, and that meant catching a ride to Team Go Island.

As she walked flecks of white descended around her and she was startled to find it starting to snow. She was not a fan of the cold, and the sooner she could get inside the better. Hopefully the boats would still be operating in this weather.

---

"Hego?" Shego called into the expansive, yet poorly lit innards of Go Tower. Only an echo returned her call, reverberating through the facility. Much of the huge stone letters was unused space, filled with scaffolding and empty platforms made of steel to keep the structure from collapsing in on itself. There were a series of functional rooms at ground level, including the meeting table and giant two-way view screen that most of the team's time had once been spent in. Then there were the training areas, one level up from the ground, and then the personal rooms on the level above that. Beyond that, the only finished areas of the giant structure were a series of crow's nests at the tops of each letter to look out over the city on and, of course, the hanger at the top of the letter 'O'.

"Mego? Wego?" Shego called out again, walking down the tiled path from the main entrance towards the back of the floor where the meeting room was. It was odd, there not being anyone in the tower. She expected not to see everyone, but it was strange to not find anyone. Usually someone stayed at the tower, unless the team was out on a mission or had broken up again. She admitted the latter was more likely than the former.

Entering the main command center she saw the circular table with the color coded seats before the expansive computer console and gigantic screen. The computers were running and the lights were on, but again, nobody was there. She walked around the table and was surprised that nothing had changed in five years. Even her green chair, un-sat in for at least five years, was clean and ready for use, in case its owner ever decided to come back.

Putting her bag on the table she turned the seat on its swivel and sat down. It was terribly uncomfortable, but that exactly matched her memories. Hego was so eager for team coordinated style and equipment that he foolishly neglected comfort. The cushioning was decent enough but the curved backing was solid plastic which refused to recline, or even flex in the slightest. That combined with no means of height adjustment apart from sticking a phone book under your bottom meant that the kids who had once sat at this table with acceptable comfort, became adults who could barely stand to sit down for more than an hour.

All that excepted Hego, of course, who ignored the discomfort entirely, lost in his own zealous world of the 'family of superheroes' led by none other than himself. The eldest and thickest of the family of five genetically mutated superheroes, Hego never hesitated to show off that he was the best. Whether he was legitimately better at anything than anyone else was largely irrelevant to him. He could twist a failure into some sort of morbidly successful lesson faster than the rest of his family could say 'narcissism.'

Which just further raised the question as to where her dull brother was? She decided to check out the long shot and see if he was out on a mission. Moving to the computer, she quickly found the relay for Hego's radio and opened the line.

"Hego, you out there?" she said into the microphone embedded into the panel.

There was a burst of static and then a voice replied barely over a whooshing sound like a strong wind. "Sis? Is that you?" There was a sudden grunt and then a sound that sounded like crumbling stone. "Are you at the tower?"

"Yeah, where are you at?" asked Shego.

"I'm ... GGRRRUUUAGGHH! I'm a little busy at the moment," Hego managed. "Are you staying long?"

"Are you in the middle of a fight?"

"It's nothing – WOAH! Er, no big deal. Will you be staying long?"

"Well, yeah, I was thinking about it, maybe," hedged Shego. She didn't want to seem like she needed to be here, but she really wanted to get back into the groove of being a hero fighting along side her brothers. It was where she started and, if something had messed up her hero mojo, she figured she should go back to ground zero. "Why don't I call back?"

"Can't say how long I'm going to be," said Hego awkwardly. "Maybe we can talk this evening, we'll all get together for dinner. You remember where Christiano's is?"

"Yeah, I remember-- is everyone else with you?" asked Shego.

"Er, yeah, they are," said Hego. "So, seven o'clock tonight?"

"Do you need help?" said Shego.

"Nope, we got it under control!" said Hego quickly. "It's just Cold Stare, tearing up the coliseum again; he does it every time the – LOOK OUT!"

"Hego!" called Shego. She felt something strange in her throat suddenly, that sank deeper in her body until she felt it heavily in her gut. She believed it was concern. It was unexpected.

"We'll see you tonight, see ya Sis!" The line went quiet. Shego stared at the console and tried to figure out what just happened. It almost seemed as though Hego was covering for something or hiding something. Sure, he was a jerk when it came to admitting he needed help, but this was different. He almost seemed uncomfortable to hear from her.

Something odd was going on, and she wasn't going to wait until seven to start trying to find out what.

---

This time when she ventured out into the cold she was better prepared. While she hadn't packed all too many clothes and what things she did pack were more geared towards it being chilly at night rather than snowing during the day, she did have a heavier coat than the windbreaker she was previously wearing, and a green and black knitted scarf. Swapping coats and wrapping the scarf around her neck, Shego headed back out into the city to see what she could find.

The coliseum was not too far from the harbor, and Shego headed in that direction to at least catch a glimpse of the fight to see if it was going much worse than Hego had admitted to. While she walked, however, she kept her eyes peeled. Team Go used to make the news quite frequently, and if something bad had happened recently, such as losing a big fight or being mind controlled or something, she hoped she'd see an article in the paper about it.

As she got closer to the coliseum, however, the gentle falling of snow turned quickly in gale winds and a near blizzard. Her scarf wasn't going to cut it on its own and she ducked into a coffee shop when she started to get concerned her nose was going to fall off from frostbite. Several other people were huddled inside, watching through the large glass windows the storm raging beyond.

Shego ambled up to the barista and ordered a latte to wait for the storm to pass. The girl behind the counter started to prepare her drink but was occasionally distracted by a TV hung in the corner of the café. Shego turned to see what was so enthralling.

A reporter yelling over the sound of wind was nearly half covered in snow while he gave his report to a shaky cameraman. "We've only just gotten word now that the storm is starting to die down near the epicenter, which we hope means that Team Go has been successful in their fight at the Madison Masters Coliseum."

"Earlier reports indicated that the battle was going well for the heroes, but that was before the super-villain known as 'Cold Stare' started the blizzard that has now engulfed much of the west side of the city. Since then we haven't been able to get any good view of the action inside the coliseum and the winds are keeping us from getting any closer."

Shego was stunned. Cold Stare was causing this snowstorm? She didn't believe it. That would be a major power upgrade for the third rate villain. He used to throw ice cubes shaped like eyeballs! This was well out of his league, unless something incredible had happened to the scrawny looking man.

"Now that winds are starting to subside, rescue workers are making an attempt to close the distance and get into the stadium, but until the plows arrive it maybe a futile effort." The report raised a snow covered arm to wave to the camera. "Back to you, Carol."

The screen changed to show a studio news reporter sitting at a desk. She nodded to the camera. "Thank you. That was Dan Sullivan, reporting from outside the Madison Masters Coliseum. If you're just joining us now, the blizzard that has engulfed the west side is the result of an presumed ongoing battle between city's defenders Team Go, and one of their many enemies Cold Stare. As the storm begins to dissipate, we expect to hear reports on whether Team Go has been successful or not."

Shego bit her lip. This seemed like a pretty bad battle, but Hego had just talked it up as if he had everything under control. If anyone got hurt as a result of his inability to simply accept help when it was offered...

The screen changed again to show a recorded clip from earlier in the battle before the snowstorm. It apparently had been taking from a helicopter overhead. The camera zoomed in on the battle which showed Cold Stare -- just as Shego remembered him -- fighting against the combined might of all of Team Go. Wide beams of ice and snow projected from Cold Stares palms, much to Shego's surprise, causing the team to scatter. Hego tried to push forward and use a piece of fiberglass ripped from the stadium to block the beam. It looked like Mego quickly shrank out of sight, though to do what Shego was unsure. The Wego ran to opposite sides of the stadium and began to multiply, using their combined forces to throw pieces the chairs and equipment at Cold Stare all at once. Finally Shego ducked behind some debris and it looked like she was trying to sneak up behind the villain.

Shego froze. Then she looked down at herself, and back up again at the screen. There was definitely a Shego on the TV fighting with Team Go. But she wasn't fighting with them, she was in a coffee shop on of Kessler Avenue. How could she be both in a coffee shop, watching a video of the fight with Cold Stare, while at the same time being IN the fight with Cold Stare?

The answer, of course, was that it was impossible.

When the barista came back with her latte, Shego grabbed the girl and pointed to the screen. "Who's that fighting with Team Go?" she asked.

"Huh? What?" said the startled girl. Then she quietly squeaked, "Cold Stare."

"No, I know that one," grumbled Shego. "I mean the girl in _green_."

"You mean Shego?" asked the girl.

"Yes, I mean Shego," said Shego. "Only that's not Shego. Shego left that team."

"Oh, you haven't seen the new Shego yet," nodded the barista.

Shego blinked. Twice. "_New_ Shego?" She felt a headache coming on.

"Yeah, the new girl they brought on to replace the old Shego last month," said the girl, starting to seem less alarmed. "She's a good fighter but I don't think she has any powers. I suppose shrinking isn't much of a power either, though."

"_NEW_ Shego?"

"Yeah, Team Go was looking for someone to complete their team and they held auditions and everything," continues the girl. "She was one of the finalists and won the position during a vote off Team Go held at the start of October. They allowed everyone who lived in the city to vote. It was kinda cool."

"_NEW SHEGO?!_"

"Can you let go of me now?" the barista asked with a frown. "You're hurting me."

Shego had to use every last ounce of willpower to get her hand to open and let the slight of a girl go. As soon a she was free, however, the hand closed into a fist once more. Unable to do anything but seethe, she turned away from the counter and headed for the door. She barely felt the blistering cold because she was surrounded in an aura of green.

---

Team Go descended from the hangar where the Go Jet was parked. Hego led the way down the scaffolding while Mego and the Wegos followed behind, shivering. They were soaking wet from being covered to their heads in snow that had eventually melted during the flight back.

"I have a suggestion," Mego announced as they marched. "If we're not going to actually capture a villain, we should probably just stay home. We're less likely to get pneumonia that way."

"Cold Stare can't hide for very long in one place without turning it into a freezer, he'll turn up soon enough," said Hego. He tried to keep his head up as he walked but he was exhausted. The rest of the team didn't even try.

"We have a suggestion," said the Wegos, looking angrily at Mego. "The next time we try to get behind an enemy, you should avoid telling him that we're _right behind him_!"

"I didn't realize what you were doing," explained Mego. "I was trying to look out for you."

"I just hope Shels isn't hurt too bad," mused Hego. The mentioning of their unfortunate team mate quieted the squabbling until they reached the lower floors. Hego went to write a report of their battle on the main computer while the rest of the team separated to find dry clothes. The eldest brother only got two steps into the command center when he stopped in his tracks.

"Sis?" he said.

"You ... replaced me," Shego's voice dripped with venom. Her arms were crossed and her eyes looked like a viper's.

"I thought we were going to meet—"

"In fact, you held a contest to replace me," continued Shego. "Like a sweepstakes."

"It wasn't like that—"

"One in ten got a free soda, or something like that?"

Hego took a cautious step back. He knew his sister's rage was unparalleled, and he questioned whether he'd survive it given the day he'd been having. "Sis, we should talk about this—"

"I'm your sister, Hego," said Shego. "You held a contest to find a _better sister_."

"Shego..."

"CAN'T YOU SEE WHAT'S WRONG WITH THAT?" screamed Shego.

Hego, for once, stopped talking and slowly hung his head. He nodded almost imperceptively and remained quiet.

Shego stared at him, apparently trying to bore holes into his skull with her eyes. Hego waited for nearly a minute before risking a look upwards again. She was looking to the side now, at nothing in particular, her brow furrowed but her jaw no longer tightened into a scowl. It was almost as if she was frozen between angry and confused.

"You should meet her, I think you might like her," ventured Hego.

Shego immediately snapped back into the scowl, then slapped her forehead with her palm. "Yeah," she said sarcastically. "I'm REALLY eager to meet the person who's apparently a better me than I am." She shook her head shamefully. "Hego do you even think for a second about what you say before you say it?"

"She's not better than you," Hego said quickly.

"Don't make things worse for yourself," Shego said, holding up a hand. "I don't actually want to know what you were thinking."

"Sis?"

Shego looked up from Hego to the entranceway behind him. "Wego?"

The twins impulsively ran quickly up to Shego then haltingly stopped just before reaching her. "You're back!"

"I've been back before," said Shego, her expression softening before her youngest siblings.

"But, nobody's tricked you into coming back this time, unless..." they looked to Hego who looked startled. He quickly began shaking his head. The twins looked back to Shego. "So, why are you here?"

Shego stared at them. "I'm... not really sure anymore," she said quietly. Then she bent down and hugged them. The twins got a look of panic in their eyes as they rigidly looked at their sister.

"Sis... are you..." started one Wego.

"...okay?" finished the other.

"I'm fine," Shego said.

From the catwalk above the commander center, Mego looked down at the scene with an arched brow.

---

Shego woke the next morning in her room in Go Tower. While she'd been back to the place a few times since leaving the team five years ago, she hadn't spent a minute in her quarters in all that time. She was all tapped out on nostalgia, but she did feel awkward at waking from a restful sleep in a place she'd convinced herself she loathed for so long. None of her stuff was here anymore, save for the green walls and bed sheets. The trinkets of her earlier life having been discarded long before by herself and eventually her brothers.

The room was still – and had always been – hers according to her brothers, but save for the color, it wasn't personal anymore. And she'd already seen how easily her colors could be usurped by another...

Changing into a green sweater and pants, she left the room and headed down to the command center. She got mostly down the stairs when she overheard a conversation. She quieted her steps but continued to approach.

"—nothing has yet come up, Hego, though we're still digging through six feet of snow."

"I appreciate the help, Mayor," a voice that was probably Hego's said. "We're still trying to fix all the monitoring equipment that Hellpike destroyed two weeks ago when he rampaged through our tower, so we're a little in the dark."

"We'll keep you informed if we find any anomalous temperature drops," said the Mayor. "Have you made any progress on the cause of everyone's power upgrades?"

Hego made an audible sigh. "Not yet, Mayor, they keep coming out of the woodwork so fast we don't have time to hit the streets and investigate."

"Well, we appreciate you doing what you can."

"Thank you, Mayor. We'll be in touch."

Shego walked into the room and saw Hego busily typing at the computer with the overhead screen dark. He looked to be slightly frustrated based on the furrowed brow, but Shego restrained herself from feeling sorry for him, she still was irritated by the whole 'New Shego' thing.

"Something big brewing?" asked Shego as she walked over to the table. Hego turned, startled, then quickly regained his composure.

"Sis..." he started, and seemed on the verge to say something profound, but then abandoned it. "Cold Stare got away yesterday so I'm trying to track him down. He makes any area he's in very cold, so I'm trying to pick him up on the thermal imager, but no such luck yet."

Shego shook her head. "Any insulated room or wall stops infrared light, you'll need something more precise to find him from a thousand feet in the air."

"Most of our equipment was lost recently," said Hego. "We have to make do with what we got. The Wegos are going to go out after school with some hand units and get more detailed data."

"While you're here doing... what?"

Hego motioned to the array of screens embedded in the computer. "Monitoring police and emergency bands hoping someone will report icicles growing in the sun." He checked his watch. "At least until the Bueno Nacho opens."

Shego sat in her chair and turned it to face Hego. "Since when is Cold Stare a level-A villain, anyway? And HellPike trashed the tower last month? He's a chump in a devil's costume! How could you let him get in here?"

Hego stared at her for several seconds. "Have you come back to join us again, Sis?" he asked suddenly.

Shego looked to the side. "Don't start, Hego."

"Then why did you come here?" asked Hego. "We didn't call you, you don't look like you're in trouble, we're not in trouble, and Kim Possible didn't drag you in, so what is it?"

"You mean besides someone stealing my name?" accused Shego.

"Is that what this is about? You won't come back to join us but you also don't want anyone to take your place? How is that fair?"

"I'm not fair," huffed Shego, and immediately felt slimy for saying so. She hated that all of the things she wanted to say had recently seemed inappropriate. When did she get in the habit of saying things she felt were wrong?

"Come on, sis," said Hego.

"This wasn't some super friends team! This was a family, and you went and cavalierly added someone to it! Without even talking to me!"

"Would you have listened if I tried to talk to you?" asked Hego.

"I—" Shego tried to shove his stupid words in his face but she couldn't shake the feeling that if Hego had called a month ago, she would have ignored him, as she'd ignored him for years. "You didn't even try."

"It would have done no good," said Hego.

"I get to decide that, _not you_!"

"Fine! Then decide!"

Shego stopped in her tracks and frowned at Hego. "What?"

"Decide!" Hego threw his hands in the air. "I'm asking you now."

"A little late, don't you think?" sneered Shego.

"I don't care. We're a five person team that's been operating with four for nearly half a decade. Things have been getting worse recently and we need help."

"Worse?" asked Shego, surprised that the 'all-man' Hego would admit to having a hard time.

"Are you ever coming back or are you gone for good?" Hego said plainly.

Shego's mouth felt dry. As she played the conversation back in her head it was inevitable that they were heading towards this question and yet, she was still caught off guard. There was a simple answer to his question, she knew it. She traveled halfway across the country just to answer that question. She had a mission to accomplish and it hinged on this question. There was only one answer.

"I..." she started, and then swallowed, trying to get moisture back into her mouth.

"Well?" pressed Hego.

"I..." she started again, hesitated once more, then looked down. "I don't know," she said quieter than a mouse.

"Damn it, Shego!" shouted Hego. He stood up forcefully and walked away. "I need to go to work," he grunted just before he was out of earshot.

Shego put her head on the table and squeezed her eyes shut. Why couldn't she do anything right anymore?

---

A few hours later Shego found herself walking through the city again. It was not quite as blistering cold as it was the previous day, but the chill still drove a shiver down her spine every time there was a breeze. Most of the snow on the roads from Cold Stare's blizzard had already been plowed aside, a testament to the city's ability to rebound from villainous attacks. Shego couldn't remember how many times city hall had been damaged and rebuilt within a week. The best engineers in the world lived in Go City, she was sure.

She was traveling towards the west side of town, where she and her brother's had grown up. Their parents had moved out of the city several years ago, choosing to live in a warmer climate that had fewer lunatics in it. Now they lived in Miami, which Shego insisted satisfied the former but not the latter. Still, the old house was still there last she checked, and she while she knew nothing of the owners, she could at least look at the outside of it without disturbing anyone.

The buses ran from the center of the city out to the edge every hour or so, and Shego caught one just past noon. She mused that she hadn't ridden in a bus filled with people in a long time, it was a little weird to be squished up against two dozen other people in winter gear when she was used to riding high above the streets in Drakken's hover craft. She would have to see about getting someone to repair it when she returned to Middleton.

On the bus, Shego noticed the newspaper of the woman sitting beside her. It had a large article on yesterday's fight, describing the start of the conflict by the harbor and how it drifted to the stadium after being fought in the streets for a few minutes. Cold Stare apparently had frozen much of the bay before Team Go responded and chased him off to the Madison Masters Coliseum.

Shego shook her head. Cold Stare was a weakling the last time she checked, what could possibly have imbued him with such power? Had another meteor fallen? Was there some sort of genetic engineering program in Go city she hadn't heard about? Maybe DNAmy had taken up residence recently. It all seemed so weird.

The woman beside her turned the page of the paper and another article caught Shego's eye. It was a report on the condition of the 'new' Shego, and how she'd been taken to Go General Hospital last night with frostbite and other undisclosed injuries. Prognosis was apparently positive, but the girl would be staying at the hospital for a couple nights. The mayor had assigned police to guard her room in the meantime to keep out the paparazzi and anyone else without a medical reason to see her.

Shego bristled. This chick had essentially auditioned to become her brothers' new sister and couldn't even keep up with the mindless band of four boys. Shego herself would never have gone to emergency over a little bit of snow. Even without her meteor-enhanced constitution she could easily take care of herself. This girl had gotten herself in way over her head and, surprise, surprise, she got hurt. She probably would quit the team after being released.

With a self satisfied smile, Shego nodded to herself. Yes, that's what people got for playing games pretending to be Shego. She was the only Shego, and she was unparalleled.

Of course, a nagging thought in her head spoke up, she probably wasn't all too informed of how difficult a job it would be by Hego. The thick brute never really understood how normal people were, and probably had forgotten long ago that he was just a sissy in tights before that meteor made him stronger than an ox and able to heal his injuries ten times faster than normal. Shego wouldn't have been surprised if Hego never even bothered to mention how often they got hurt doing what they did. Or how many times they'd gotten by just on their luck alone.

The mayor did mention on his call with Hego this morning that their villains were getting suspiciously stronger all of a sudden. Even if Hego was honest with this new Shego about what had gone on before, things had recently changed for the worse. Had Hego told her?

The more she thought about her unlucky replacement, the more Shego began to feel sorry for the girl. There was nobody else like her, truth be told, and anyone trying to fill her place could only ever come up short. Not that she wanted to brag right now, but she had an unnatural advantage. The meteor only hit her family, there could never be anyone else like them.

Shego sighed. She shouldn't have reveled in the girl's injury, it probably wasn't her fault. She turned to look out the front of the bus. They were on Ackles Drive past Boxton, still within the city. They would pass not too far by Go General on their way to the suburbs. Getting off a few stops early would put her in walking distance of the hospital.

She really should explain to this poor girl what she had gotten herself into, Shego thought. It's the least she could do for someone who got beaten to an inch of her life just because she donned a green and black catsuit. Shego stood and hit the button on the railing over her head. There was nothing really to see at her old home anyway, and this would at least have purpose.

---

Go General Hospital was a large facility, with several wings of research science in addition to patient care. Finding one person inside the medical center without a name to go by would have been a time intensive task if it weren't for the news article Shego had read indicating the room was being guarded 24/7 by the police. While it still took her a half hour to roam all the halls of the hospital, it was pretty obvious which room the girl was in when she stumbled upon the three policemen in uniform.

Shego worked out the location of the room in her head as she headed for the stairs. She wasn't quite sure she could bluff her way into the room without some proof that she was a member of Team Go, and lighting her hand on fire would probably only bring to mind the rather flashy manner in which she announced her original resignation from the team. Instead she went to the roof and swiftly scaled down the side of the building, heading for the window she was convinced corresponded with the 'new' Shego's room.

Using some nylon rope she found coiled in a bucket in a supply closet, Shego rappelled down to just above the room in question. She tucked her hair in her jacket, turned around so she was facing the ground, and peeked down over the edge of the window to see if any police were also inside the room guarding the girl.

Inside she saw a normal hospital room with four beds, although three of them were empty, a small collection of medical equipment near the occupied bed, a long, black haired girl Asian girl sitting up in the bed, and a shorter, skinny man with a pompadour sitting in a chair beside the bed talking to her. Shego squinted, but couldn't see any other cops in the room. She then looked closely at the man in the room with the girl.

"Mego?" Shego said in surprise.

The two figures in the room suddenly looked towards the window in surprise.

"Shego?" said Mego, standing up suddenly like a spider had jumped onto his lap. He knocked over his chair in the scramble and then quickly moved to right it. He looked then to the girl in the bed and back up at Shego. "What are you doing here?" he asked nervously.

"Oh, you know, catching a good breeze," said Shego swinging her head back and forth. "Open this window!"

Mego took on a grumpy face then drolly stomped to the window and unlatched it. Shego swung it open and deftly flipped into the room making barely a sound with her landing. She regarded Mego for a moment then moved over to the bed to look at the girl.

She was a smaller girl, definitely a little shorter than Shego herself, but athletically built based on her arms and the shape under the sheet. She was definitely East Asian, probably Japanese based on the skin tone and the shape of her face and eyes. She looked pleasantly exotic compared to the rest of the team, which was saying something given Shego's own Arabic roots.

"So you're the new gal," said Shego coolly.

The woman in the bed nodded. "And you're the old one," she pointed out.

"Watch who you're calling _old_," Shego said instinctively.

"Shego," warned Mego as he came up behind her. "What are you doing here?" He shook his head. "Let me rephrase that, what do you intend to do?"

Shego raised an eyebrow and smirked at her brother. "Cool your jets. I'm not here to do anything bad towards your new girlfriend."

"We're not dating!" Mego burst, quickly.

Shego stared at him and then her eyes widened. Mego looked away as Shego glanced towards the girl in the bed who matched her steady gaze. "Seriously?" Shego said, looking back towards Mego.

"What?"

"That was fast," commented Shego.

"There's nothing going on!"

"Yeah, see, bro," Shego put her arm around Mego's shoulders. "Usually people who aren't doing anything aren't quite so quick on the denial."

"Shego..."

"One month though?" continued Shego, turning towards the girl in the bed. "It couldn't possibly have been his charm, because, well... you know."

"Don't do this," begged Mego weakly.

"We knew each other before I joined the team," said the girl.

"Aw, no, Shels, don't play her game..." whined Mego.

"Oh, I see," Shego gave a toothy grin. "So this all started before donning the tights."

"No," insisted Mego. "Nothing started because _nothing is going on!_"

"Does the rest of the team know?" Shego asked the girl.

"There's nothing to know!" yelled Mego.

"They do not," replied the girl.

"Man, I'm going to catch hell for this," groaned Mego.

"You'll be fine," said the girl on the bed to Mego. "You can endure a little teasing, Melvin. You're a big boy now."

Mego pouted and kicked his foot out, scuffing the floor. "Yeah, I guess."

Shego smiled as she looked between the visibly downtrodden Mego and the stern young girl who claimed to be Shego. For the first time since coming to this city, she started to feel warmth beneath her chest. This girl she hadn't known for more than five had taken her clothes and stolen her name, and yet, Shego found it hard to hate her anymore. She was a stranger, yes, but she was quickly on her way to becoming family.

Then she realized something. "Oh my god, you rigged that audition!" Shego announced.

"We did not," Mego said sternly. "She won it fair and square."

"You're telling me you didn't sway the contest just a _little_ bit in favor of your little beau?" teased Shego.

"I most certainly did not!"

"He is telling the truth," said the girl in the bed.

Shego moved over to the side of the bed and said in a softer, yet subversive voice. "How would you have known if he did?"

The Asian girl considered this information and then looked at Mego.

"Don't be fooled by her wiles!" Mego said in a panic.

"You didn't make the contest unfair, correct?" asked the girl.

"It was completely fair!"

"No cheating?"

"No cheating! None. Honestly! I'm telling you the truth, I wouldn't have done that!"

Shego eyed her brother skeptically but the Asian girl nodded and turned to face the woman. "I believe him," she said.

Shego laughed and regarded the girl with a smile. She held out her hand. "I'm Lily Kedar," she said.

"Shelly Sukunatsu," the Asian girl replied and shook the outstretched hand.

"I'm never going to hear the end of this," Mego said, deflated.

As Shego and Shelly laughed together, Shego realized she'd have to find a new reason be angry with Hego. Oh well.

---


	4. English Hospitality

4. English Hospitality

---

Lord Montgomery Fiske struggled with his luggage as he hopped up the long flight of stairs to the front door of his family castle in Tyne and Wear in Northern England. In a rare moment of nostalgia, he longed for the days when his family's wealth and prestige afforded him some servants to carry his bags. But since his dismissal of Bates three years ago, all of Monty's servants came in the form of monkey ninjas, which were hardly trained in the art of proper British etiquette.

But he was done with all that, Monty resolved. The monkey... thing, was in his past and he was ready to focus on his life's work again. Not simian domination but archeology! His first love, long before he'd ever heard of any form of Hou Quan martial arts or silly rituals involving jade statues. He'd traveled the world, bringing much fame and respect to himself and his heritage. Acclaim that the last three years had dashed without much hope of return.

But it would return. And it would start with the restoration of his castle, Monty decided. It had taken him some time to gather the money to return to his family lands, but now that he was here, things would change.

With a grunt, Monty pushed open the double doors to his castle and found it surprisingly warm inside and well lit. There had been a chill outside in the muggy English fog, and yet it was dry and warm inside his castle. The long hanging cobwebs and piles of dust he expected were nowhere to be seen and he could almost smell fresh cut flowers in the air.

"What's going on here?" Monty mused aloud as she dropped his bags and walked further into the entrance hall. Had one of his erstwhile relatives come and claimed the abandoned residence in his absence? That would prove to be a snag in his plans, but not impossible to overcome. Monty would just have to explain that he had returned and would be dedicating his life to restoring his name and, if possible, his family's seat in the House of Lords.

Preoccupied with thoughts of peerage, Monty nearly ran into the woman exiting the southeast sitting room holding a newspaper and a small plate of crumbs. He stopped abruptly as the woman noticed him as well and they both instinctively uttered a string of apologizes for nearly running each other over and turned to continue on their paths.

Then they both paused and looked back, seeing each other's faces for the first time.

Monty's jaw dropped. "Kim Possible!?" he exclaimed.

"Monkey Fist?" Kim said, her eyes widening.

Monty's instincts upon seeing Kim Possible had been worn into him quite well over the last few years and, lacking an army of servants to command, his body went into plan B almost entirely outside of his control. He turned on his foot, and began to run.

Kim, surprised at Monty's presence and at his sudden dash, fumbled with her plate and newspaper before taking off after him. "Get over here!" she yelled as she reached out to him.

They got as far as the door before Kim grabbed Monty's collar and dragged him back, kicking and shouting.

"Let me go! Leave me be!"

Kim shook her head as he dragged the once great master of monkey kung fu deeper into the castle. "Ron!" she called out as she walked.

---

Monty had been tied up and then strapped to a chair for good measure. Kim didn't feel like taking any risks with the martial artist, even if he was acting as if he'd completely forgotten the mystical monkey art. They were in the main hall in the castle, where Kim was sitting in a plush chair and finishing her paper while Ron paced about, muttering to himself. A fireplace large enough to drive a car through was on one wall housing a large fire.

"What are you two doing in my home?" asked Monty between bouts of Ron's mostly subdued mania and Kim's page turning.

"What do you care?" asked Kim, looking up. "You're never here."

"I'm here now!"

"Well, obviously," she looked back down at her paper as if the conversation was over.

Monty was more confused now than he had been after that HenchCo party. "Why have you invaded my family castle and..." he looked around, "cleaned?"

"Because it smelled of _monkeys!_" snapped Ron. "Haven't you ever heard of a litter box?"

"A litter box? For monkeys? They are advanced primates, not house cats!" Monty was a little annoyed at this boy's ignorance. Sure, he didn't want to have anything to do with monkey kung fu anymore, but that didn't mean he was going to ignore the vast knowledge in primates he'd accrued.

"It really did smell terrible," added Kim, not looking up. "Air freshener wouldn't cut it."

"Well, nobody invited you," Monty said. "I certainly didn't anyway."

Kim turned the page she was reading and Ron went back to pacing and muttering to himself. Randomly, Ron would pull out a notepad, jot several things down on it, cross out much of what he had already wrote, then shoved the pad back into his pocket to pace again. It was actually quite erratic.

"WHY ARE YOU HERE?" Monty crowed when he could take no more.

"Because you weren't, Monty," said Kim, folding her paper in an annoyed manner. "Which is quite annoying now that you are."

"This is my home," repeated Monty.

"Yes, but you hadn't been back here in years," explained Kim. "Always off in your African or southeast Asian temples with your hordes of hairy goons seeking whatever it is that you do there. Meanwhile your castle was left empty, which is a shame because it's got a great remote location, lots of privacy, huge rooms, preinstalled trap doors and secret passages -– though I suppose they're not quite so secret from you -– but, in short, a great place to hide out."

"Hide out from what?" asked Monty, puzzled but no less outraged. "What are you doing here?"

"We're planning world domination!" Ron suddenly turned and bellowed, followed by a long string of laughter while he held his fists proudly over his head and arched his back.

"What he said," Kim gestured after the laughter had died down.

Monty hung his head. He could not escape it! This thing called villainy was like a virus that would never die. He looked at Kim. "World domination?"

Kim smiled and nodded.

"Okay," sighed Monty. He couldn't possibly be getting the whole story, but whatever, he would roll with it. He spoke evenly and slowly. "Maybe you've forgotten, and that's okay because I've forgotten things myself from time to time, but you're the hero. You're supposed to stop others from taking over the world."

"True," nodded Kim. "But it's really annoying. And we never seem to know what's going on until the last minute. It would be better if we were in charge, so we could see trouble before it starts and nip it in the bud."

Monty blinked. "You're taking over the world, to stop other people from taking over the world," he summarized.

Kim shrugged. "Pretty much."

"You've gone insane."

"Ah, Monty," Kim said with a grin, standing and walking around Monty's chair. "It's always been my world, really. The media loves me, the police help me, even Global Justice seeks me out when it needs a hand. It's a pretty sweet deal, to tell you the truth." She moved behind the chair, rested her arms on the back of the chair and then leaned her chin on top of Monty's head.

"But then you silly boys come in," she continued. "With all your villainy, and try to break my things. I _hate_ that. It's my world, and you have to ask if you want to play with it."

"Our world," Ron corrected, looking up from his notepad momentarily.

Kim rolled her eyes. "Yes, _our_ world, whatever." She picked her head up and began gently patting the top of Monty's head like a drum. "Anyway, I've had enough. Time to try new things. First, take over the world _my way_, then clean up all the garbage."

She leaned forward and looking down into Monty's eyes from above. "By garbage I mean you and your pals."

"I want nothing to do with the others," said Monty.

Kim smiled. "Of course not." She stood up straight again and walked back over to her chair.

"I've left that all behind," Monty reiterated. "I'm out of the world taking over business. I'm going to focus on my work now so none of what you say involves me. Why don't you and your boyfriend pack up and go crash at the Senior's island or Dementor's lab?"

"Oh, but we've come to like it here so much," said Kim. "And it's not like I'm going to take your word for anything."

"So what do you want?" asked Monty. "What are you going to do with me?"

Kim shrugged. "Any ideas, Ron?"

"Yes, eheh... I do! Aha... boooyahahahahah!" cackled Ron.

"No, I mean ideas about what to do with Monty here," Kim said.

"Oh," Ron nodded. "No, not really." He paused and thought. "There's a dungeon in this place, we can put him there."

"There's a dungeon in your family castle?" Kim asked Monty, amused.

"There most certainly is not," Monty said. He then quietly added, "There is a holding area."

"Was that part of the original architecture?" teased Kim.

"It's a _castle_," stressed Monty. "Built in the seventeenth century. So, yes, there was a jail. Plumbing was also once accomplished with chamber pots too, but my family decided toilets _might_ not be a bad idea."

"You should have told that to the monkeys," muttered Ron.

"If we put him in the dungeon, we'll have to take care of him," said Kim, frowning. "It would be better to dispose of him somehow."

"So I'm guessing you're going to continue to be squatters in my home," asked Monty.

"That's the plan, ol' boy," said Kim.

"Perhaps I might ask how you plan on dealing with the locals once they notice the castle is inhabited again?" asked Monty.

"With distain, mostly," answered Kim.

"Yes, well, that might convince them you're nationals but not that you have any business residing in a castle belonging to the Fiske Barony."

"What are you suggesting?" asked Kim, a little bemused by Monty's attempts to save his ass.

"That you need me to keep suspicion off of you lest the police get involved," said Monty.

Kim smiled. "Are you offering your services? I thought you wanted nothing to do with villains anymore."

"Yes, well, if the choice is being tossed into the Tyne to die a soggy death or serve you while still residing in my own home, there's not much of an option there," grumbled Monty.

Kim pulled her chair up to Monty's, placed her elbows on the arm of his chair and rested her head in her hands. Her smug smile persisted. "How can we trust you not to bring those very police down on our heads?"

"You have my word," said Monty.

Kim laughed.

"Very well then, I propose a bargain," said Monty.

"I'm listing," Kim said sweetly.

"My family estate is in shambles."

Ron looked around the room. "Doesn't seem that bad to me, especially after we tidied up."

"I don't mean the _castle_!" Monty sneered at Ron. "I mean my heritage, my family's stock, the money and prestige of my barony."

"You're broke," said Kim.

"In more than one meaning of the word," agreed Monty. "But if I know villains, then you do love to horde money. So we will reach an accord. I will provide for you safe residence here to do... whatever you intend, an in exchange you will add your assets to my estate. We both benefit and thus both risk something substantial though betrayal."

Kim laughed again, but this time less mockingly. "You are quite amusing, Monty, especially without your monkey shtick."

"Do we have an accord?" asked Monty.

"How would I 'add my assets to your estate'?" asked Kim.

"The typical arrangement is through marriage," said Monty. When Kim laughed again, Monty pressed on. "But you're still a minor, so adoption would be less messy."

"How about I just give you the money," said Kim. "Though Lord Kim Possible has a good ring to it."

"The correct title would be 'Dame'," said Monty, irritated. "And that arrangement would do little for my family's prestige."

Kim patted him on the shoulder. "You'll have to handle that on your own." She stood and faced him. "Otherwise your deal is accepted. We pay you, you protect us."

"Agreed," said Monty. "Now can I be untied?"

"Just a second!" Ron suddenly said coming in from another room. Neither Kim nor Monty had noticed him leaving earlier but now he was returning with a red ring of some sort in his hand. He held it in his hands and gently pulled it open on a hinge making it look like some sort of claw.

"What's that?" asked Monty.

Ron walked up to the tied up man and swiftly snapped what Monty now recognized as a collar around his neck. Ron stepped back to admire his handiwork.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Monty yelled.

"It's a control collar," said Ron, smiling evilly. "Something I've been working on since we got here. Just in case you feel like stabbing us in the back anyway, the collar will deliver an electric charge that'll either drop you or kill you, depending on what mood I'm in."

"WHAT?" screamed Monty. "This was not party of the bargain!"

Kim shrugged. "Eh, you're not going to betray us anyway, right, Monty?" she smiled. "As long as you remain on our side, there's no risk to you at all. Seems fair to me, considering our deal requires a bit of trust."

"This isn't trust at all!" Monty said.

"Well, then I guess it requires you to trust us not to kill you for no reason," said Kim, nodding. "Trust me, we wont." She smiled yet again.

Monty gritted his teeth, but contained his urge to strangle as Kim produced a knife and deftly cut his ropes. He stood and regarded his 'captors' with unveiled hatred.

"That's a nice look on you, monkey boy," said Kim. "Now go run along and deal with your countrymen." She waved her hand in a dismissive fashion.

Monty bowed slightly, as if a servant, and walked away. Kim sighed when he was out of earshot and leaned casually on Ron's shoulder. He was going through some of his notes like he always was these days.

"That was fun," Kim said. "We'd been cooped up in here so long I forgot how much fun it is to menace another person."

"Why did you do that?" asked Ron, a little accusingly. "We've been here for a week and nobody's come along to question us. The castle's been empty for years, I doubt anyone even cares anymore. And we certainly don't need to pay Monkey Fist to deal with the locals for us."

Kim leaned more into her partner and ruffled his hair. "Because I was bored," she said simply. "And why not have a servant or two? We haven't made much progress on getting our own henchmen yet, anyway."

Ron grumbled for a minute. "I underestimated the logistics of making robotic servants," he eventually said. "Progress has _not_ stopped."

"Awww, you're worried that Drakken is going to seem like a better mad scientist than you." Kim gave Ron's cheek a gentle tug.

"I am better than Drakken," Ron insisted, stopping his scribbling. "My inventions do what they're supposed to do."

"But not in the manner you expect," pointed out Kim.

Ron returned to scribbling and grumbling. Kim giggled and kissed him on the cheek before walking over to the fire and warming her hands. "It'll be fun," she said. "Playing with Monty for a while." She made a small smile at the warmth against her face and along her body. "Then when we're done with him we can toss him onto the fire."

"A time that can only come too soon," said Ron.

---

Monty woke up the next day in his old bed after feeling the first rays of sunlight. He immediately rose his hand to feel his neck and confirm, yes, it wasn't a nightmare, he really had been collared by the buffoon Ron Stoppable and was now essentially in indentured servitude to the 'hero' Kim Possible. He considered closing his eyes again and willing himself into a coma, but that wouldn't really fix anything and would be as useful as if he had let himself be tossed in the river.

No, today was day one of operation 'Foil Kim Possible's Plans,' Monty resolved. He was just a servant now, but he would find a way to escape their leash and be free, collar be damned. All it would take is time, and he had plenty of that now.

Throwing back his sheets, Monty swung his feet over the edge of the bed and stood. He felt his feet sink into something soft and mushy. He looked down slowly. It appeared as though someone had spread a layer of peanut butter along the floor around his bed while he slept. Elsewhere in the castle he could hear the echoing laughter of Ron Stoppable.

---

By the time Monty finally got cleaned up and down to the kitchen he saw Kim Possible at the island reading a news paper and eating a scone with some coffee. Ron Stoppable was nowhere to be found.

"Good morning, Monty," said Kim cheerfully when she saw him.

"Yes, I can only hope every morning starts with being covered in peanut butter," Monty said sarcastically.

Kim looked at him skeptically. "You have some odd fetishes for a monkey boy," she commented, then returned to her paper.

Monty began preparing himself some hot water for tea. While before his sojourn into villainy he had never gone for long without at least one of his servants by his side, he was at least passably able to function in the kitchen. Hot water and a tea bag wasn't high cuisine but he knew several other nobles in his youth that had managed to become quite defunct in any discipline normally performed by a servant. Such as using a vacuum cleaner.

After he had managed to brew his cup of tea he looked over at Kim Possible, looking as normal as any person having their morning breakfast and paper. There was little sign of the demon that had apparently been borne within her.

Something tugged at the corner of his mind.

"Where did you get the paper?" he asked suddenly. "You haven't... subscribed, have you?"

Kim looked up and thought for a moment. "I steal it every morning from one of your neighbors."

Monty worked out the logistics of that statement. "The nearest neighbor is over five miles from here, and it's not as though the paper is bound to be sitting on their lawn."

Kim shrugged. "I need to get my workout somehow." She went back to reading.

Monty decided he wouldn't ask any more irrelevant questions.

---

At about midday, Monty wondered if this arrangement would actually be all that bad. Yes, he had to endure an elementary school trick upon waking, but after that, Kim and Ron had left him almost entirely to his own devices. Since he had not been home in so many years, he decided to tour his family's property, becoming familiar again.

He started by wandering the halls of the west wing and discovered that while Possible had arranged for cleaning to some of the castle, many of the ancillary rooms had simply been closed and ignored. Much of the guest rooms were still dusty and in need of repair, and the facilities in that area of the castle were also barely functional. He hadn't guessed that pipes might rust in three years of neglect, but he was proven wrong.

Moving back into the main hall of the castle, he started to venture towards the sub-levels but heard cackling and shouts that sounded like Ron Stoppable. Any ability to avoid him Monty was apt to indulge in, so he avoided that area of the residence and headed upstairs. There were three stories in total in the main building, and his room was on the second along with other well conditioned suites. Having seen that floor already he continued past it.

The third floor is where, Monty recalled, his parents had lived when they all were in the castle. Their suite was expansive and filled with the amenities of title. Silver mirrors, ivory post caps, jade statues. A four post canopy bed was in the center of their sleeping area, and the sheets were rumpled indicating that someone, either Possible or Stoppable, slept there. Or perhaps both. Monty felt his stomach turn at that thought, and continued onward.

The gallery was also on the third floor, where the Fiske family's paintings and trophies were. Many were of other prestigious members of the family, all of which were long dead, but several were of other famous people and landscapes painted by a possible artist in the family from generations past. There were many stands and podiums along the walls here too, but most were bare, having been sold off in Monty's own eager quest to mutilate his own body.

Shaking his head, Monty continued onward. There was an expansive sitting room on this floor as well, and then the adjacent servants quarters. Back when the Fiske barony was wealthy and respected, there had been many staying in these areas, but even before Monty had been born the service staff had dwindled to a few. Monty had done much for his family name, becoming a world renowned archeologist, but it was piddling compared to the heritage this castle was borne from.

Descending the stairs back to the ground level, Monty heard the door bell ringing in the hall. He picked up his pace and quickly made his way to entrance. Opening the large oaken doors, Monty was greeted with the sight of a man in a suit and trench coat. He didn't look familiar, but then again, Monty had never really answered the door in his own home before.

"What is it?" asked Monty, in his most cordial.

"I'm looking to speak with His Honorable Lord Montgomery Fiske," said the man in a gruff voice.

"That's me," said Monty, surprised that his prediction had come true so soon.

"You're Lord Fiske?" asked the man, unconvinced.

"That's what I had just said, you fool. Must I repeat myself?" Monty replied, irritated.

The man reached into his trench coat and pulled out a badge. "My name is Inspector Caldwell."

"Oh," said Monty, and nothing more.

"How long have you been at residence here, Lord Fiske?" asked the inspector.

"Only the day," said Monty.

The man looked around for a second. "Things look pretty picked up for only a day."

"I had my servants come ahead of me to prepare the grounds," Monty said quickly. "What is it that you want?"

"These servants are too busy to answer the door, I assume?" asked the inspector.

Monty looked at the man with a frown. "What can I do for you, inspector?"

"The last three years there hasn't been any payment of taxes or services on these lands, which is normally grounds for the estate to be seized," said Inspector Caldwell. "In light of your title, this property was held in escrow pending a rightful owner's return, however, you cannot take ownership of this residence again without resolving your debt of back taxes."

Monty frowned. This was one of those things he had left in the care of Bates and had rarely tried to handle on his own. It seemed deplorable to him that someone would even consider taking his family's land until he realized that the only surviving member of direct lineage to his family was himself and until a couple weeks ago, he could have cared less about the property. "Er, okay," started Monty. "What's the amount?"

The inspector pulled out an envelope and handed it over. Monty started to open it but the inspector interrupted him.

"You have thirty days to respond to this or we will be forced to retake this land," said the inspector. He nodded slightly. "Your lordship." He turned and walked away.

Monty frowned at the letter. No matter what the amount there was little chance he had enough in his pocket to cover it. He opened it all the same and looked.

"Oh."

---

Monty looked for nearly a half hour before deciding that Kim Possible was nowhere within the castle for him to find. This was troublesome, as it meant he had to deal with Stoppable, an entirely odious concept.

Descending the stairs he found much of the sub-level rooms and storage had been converted into some sort of lunatic's lab, with tables covered in wires, pieces of electronics and machinery, and several questionable creations standing like sentinels around a long table where the buffoon stood. Monty approached with caution because there was no other way to do so.

"Stoppable," said Monty.

"What is it?" spat Ron. "Can't you see I am in the middle of _creation?_"

"Yes, I'm sure you are," Monty said sarcastically. "But we have a problem."

"Resolve it," said Ron. Then he waved the defunct lord away.

"We owe money to the government," said Monty. "A... quite a bit of money."

"Then pay them," replied Ron. "These are simple problems."

Monty rolled his eyes then reached out and grabbed Ron by his coat lapels. "Listen, you simpleton!" he growled. "Unless you've been stuffing my coffers since yesterday, there _is no cash_ to pay them with!"

Ron frowned and, for once, seemed to actually focus on Monty long enough to see him. "Well, how much do you need?" he asked, candidly.

Monty let go of Ron's coat and pulled out the letter. Ron took it an unfolded it. He blinked. "Oh."

"You see?" pressed Monty.

"How much time do we have?"

"Thirty days."

"Hmmmm," Ron mused as he began to pace around the lab.

"Not this again," sighed Monty.

Ron paced in several circles before looking up. "Where is Kim?"

"I haven't the faintest," said Monty.

"Find her, then we shall deal with this 'problem' of yours," announced Ron.

"I did not agree to be your manservant," Monty pointed out. "Find her yourself."

Ron gazed at Monty. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small blue plastic box with a dial and three buttons on it. He waved it in an intimidating fashion at Monty. "Consider this an amendment to our agreement." He held his hand threateningly over the dial.

Monty sneered at Ron, then turned to leave.

---

"The problem," Ron began once Monty and Kim had been gathered before him, "as I see it, is that we need money."

They were sitting in the same great room that Monty had been held captive in before, and the memory did not improve his mood. He breathed noisily. "What a stunning revelation," he intoned.

"Of course, to have money, we must get money."

"Ron, I think you'd better cut to the chase," said Kim.

"To get money," Ron pressed on, regardless of the criticism, "we will steal money. AND!" Ron eyed his audience of two, daring them to interrupt. "We will steal the money, from the very people who try to extort it from us."

Monty shook his head. "This is going to end poorly for all of us."

"What do you mean?" asked Kim.

"The Bank of England," said Ron. "England's central bank. Holds a substantial amount of bank notes and, in its basement, holds over four thousand tons of gold."

"Wow," said Kim, as yet unimpressed. "So what's the plan?"

"We steal it."

Kim sighed. Monty groaned.

Ron reached into his pocket and pulled out a short stack of paper. The top sheet had loosely drawn schematics and notes strewn across it. "With this!"

Kim got up and took the stack of papers. "What is this?" she asked, paging through the designs. Whatever it was, it was _massive_.

"Do you remember when Drakken robbed the Nakasumi toy factory a few years back?" Ron posited.

Kim frowned for a moment then her eyes widened. "Ah, okay, I get it."

"Well I don't," Monty said. "What is he blithering on about?"

"We don't steal the money or the gold," said Ron, spreading his arms apart. "We still all of it."

"All of what?"

"The building," said Ron. "We cut it out, pick it up, and take it away. Then we can deal with the locks and vaults on our own time."

"That's preposterous!" Monty concluded. "You can't just take a building, it'll crumble to dust from the transport. Not to mention the Bank of England has a basement, as you said. You'll have to take the entire substructure as well! Completely asinine."

"Drakken did it," said Ron.

"That just proves how asinine this plan is," Monty countered. "'Drakken did it' is not a litmus test for sanity. Quite the opposite, in fact."

"I've vastly improved his techniques," said Ron. "He used several helicopters and took a connected machine swinging from tow-cables. My plans is to use a particle laser to cut the building away from its neighbors and then use a giant magnet-plate to raise it up and fly it away."

"You're going to use magnets to lift a building?" Monty mocked.

"SUPER Magnets!" corrected Ron.

Monty smacked his forehead with his palm.

Kim finished looking through the plans, then shrugged. "Sounds like fun."

"Yes, it'll all be fun when we're buried beneath sixty million pounds of rock," Monty muttered into his hands.

Kim skipped back over to Monty and punched him playfully in the arm. "Come on, Monty! Where's your team spirit and sense of adventure?"

"I have neither."

"Then look on the bright side," Kim smiled. "If we all die, then you won't have to be our servant anymore AND you'll become famous again for dying in the largest bank heist ever conceived."

"Neither of those things is appealing," Monty's droll voice continued. "Why can't we just steal some rare artifact or rob a perfectly normal bank?"

"Nope," Kim shook her head. "No fun. I like this plan."

"Yes, I can see that it's questionable logic and absurdly high cost of execution are what all the cool kids are doing these days."

"Yes, that brings us to our first task," Ron returned to the forefront of the conversation. "Materials."

Kim looked back at the sack of papers. "Looks like we need to get some take-out," she said. "What are you in the mood for?"

Ron smiled evilly. "I'm feeling like Dementor."

"Professor Dementor it is," Kim nodded.

---

Author's Note: There are some pretty silly concepts in this chapter about the manner in which English peerage works in addition to general statements about the government of Great Britain. These are intentionally silly, and in no way intended to reflect my opinion of the UK or its people. Kim Possible (the series) always played things fast and loose when it came to the more complicated concepts of law and justice (such as the fact that Drakken, being a citizen with designs on overthrowing the government would be considered both guilty of treason and terrorism and would never end up in a general population jail such as in Season 4), and I'm doing much the same here.

It's just a fanfic, you should really just relax...


	5. Cold Shoulder

5. Cold Shoulder

---

Shego woke to the morning sun again and she blinked against its powerful rays to focus on her room. The place was tragically bare, only a backpack full of clothes to really say that it was here. Well, that and the green and black walls, but, well...

She looked for a clock in the room and, finding none on the empty walls, hopped out of bed and checked her backpack for the wristwatch she kept in there. She typically had little need for a watch, having little regard for the time in general unless there was a plan to execute. Often in those situations she'd be before a computer console or in the hovercraft which had a built-in clock and timer. Discovering the cheap device, Shego saw that it was nearly eleven in the morning.

She had not slept particularly well last night, at least not until late. She had found herself unable to get to sleep when she started to rest, and then waking up several times after that in thirty minute intervals. She had things on her mind and it was keeping her from getting the forty winks she desired. There was nothing particularly special about this morning or today in general, except that she had been putting off making a decision for a while now. Was she here to stay or was this just a stop on the way to someplace else? And if the latter, what was to be done about Shelly, the faux-Shego in Team Go?

Shego shivered slightly. The direct sunlight was warm under her covers, but the sharp cold in her room left no doubt that it was late November. Cold and unwelcoming were the two feelings she got from the city of Go since she arrived, but she was determined not to be turned away by them. Though even Hego was giving her that impression now.

Pulling on a heavy green sweater and some dark blue jeans, Shego slipped on some shoes and headed out of her room. She had to stop a moment later because she found Mego standing in the hall just outside, apparently waiting for her.

"'morning," said Shego, regarding her brother.

"Shelly's coming back today," Mego said. No time for pleasantries, I guess, thought Shego.

"I know," nodded Shego.

"You've kept quiet about it so far, but I'm wondering..." he hesitated. "I'm asking that, for the sake of propriety, that you let me know if you are thinking you maybe might say something to the rest of the family."

"Wow, there were a lot of conditionals in that statement," commented Shego.

"Sis..."

Shego was aware of her reputation amongst her family members. She was starting to realize, when she reflected on her life so far, that it was probably justified. But it felt wrong that her brothers didn't trust her. It felt wrong that they believed they didn't matter to her.

It felt wrong that she had ever done the things she had done, and yet, there they were, in her memories.

Shego carefully put her hand on Mego's shoulder and patted him gently. "I'm not going to say anything," she said in as honest a voice she could muster.

Mego looked at her wide-eyed, then looked away for a second. "Uhm, yes, okay, thank you," he muttered.

"You should tell them, though," Shego added, knowing it was dangerous.

"I don't need honestly lessons from you," Mego said, a little angrily.

"It's not like you stole the family fortune or something," Shego teased. "They'll be happy for you."

"You do recall what this family is like, right?" asked Mego.

Shego sighed. "Okay, Hego will envy you but hide that emotion in a lecture about protocol and how justice involves impartiality and honesty. And the Wegos will begin to suspect you've drugged her and begin sending blood samples to the local clinic."

"See?" said Mego. "Nobody really cares about me or my life."

"Of course they care, otherwise they'd ignore you," said Shego. Just like I did for so many years, she thought. I really do need to make up for a lot.

"I'd prefer they choose better methods of showing it," Mego replied.

"Well, you can't pick..." Shego trailed off, not sure she wanted to finish that sentence. "Anyway, let's see what's going on with Cold Stare." She closed her door behind her and headed for the stairs. Mego followed behind her quietly.

---

"Nice of you to join us," said Hego in a disgruntled manner as Mego and Shego entered the command center.

"I had to talk to Shego about something," said Mego as he went to his seat. Shego also sat but Hego steadfastly ignored her. He'd given her the cold shoulder since their argument a couple days ago and had, at best, tolerated her presence in the tower.

For her part, Shego didn't blame him. She imagined he believed she was jerking him around, refusing to answer his simple question if she intended to stay with the team or not. She had come all the way to Go city in order to join up with her brothers again, but Hego wasn't asking about the next few weeks. He was asking about forever, and she just hadn't made a decision about that.

Part of her wondered why she was hedging on her response. Where else would she go? A small voice in the back of her mind readily answered 'Middleton,' but why? There was nothing there for her except Kim Possible and she could go face to face with the hero turned villain anywhere in the world, as she had in the past. No, Middleton was of no interest to her. But if that was the case, why not Go city? Why not return to the family that, while not exactly the sanest bunch in the world, at least was interested in welcoming her back?

Shego's mind continued to spin on the subject while Hego continued with his briefing. "As I was telling the Wegos, our searching hasn't turned up anything yet, but we've only covered about thirty-five percent of the city with the infrared receivers so it's still possible we'll find him."

"Not if he's moving," pointed out Shego. Hego looked at her as if she her comment was completely unwelcome but she continued on anyway. "It'll take forever to cover the city at this rate, and he might not even be there, he could have run to another city or even the suburbs and this would never flush him out. Add to that if he just moved from one part of the city to another after your search, he'd never be found."

"Do you have a better idea?" accused Hego. "He's doing his best to remain quiet but I don't want to wait until he starts his next rampage to catch him."

Shego searched her memories. "Didn't he have that... uh," she started then hesitated, her memories a little vague from eight years back. "That blue sapphire fetish? Or was that Bella Negra?"

"His theme crime?" asked one of the Wegos.

"He used to only steal sapphires," said the other.

"Yeah, can't we try and flush him out somehow using that?" asked Shego. "Create a trap?"

Hego shook his head. "Since his upgrade, Cold Stare hasn't followed his old routine."

"He attacked the stadium, didn't he?" asked Shego. "Every time the Go City Gophers lost a game he used to do that. It's part of his old routine."

Hego sighed. "Not really."

"What?" asked Shego.

"He didn't attack the stadium," said the Wegos in unison.

"You said..." started Shego.

"He came after us," said Mego. "We chased him to the stadium to give us room to fight."

"He came after you?" asked Shego, surprised. "Why didn't you tell me?" She paused, and thought for a minute.

"That was Team Go business" started Hego. "And it doesn't involve you unless you intend—"

"Wait," Shego interrupted. "You said HellPike came here, too." She looked at Hego angrily. "Have the villains been teaming up against you recently?"

"I wouldn't call it teamwork," Hego started.

"But they've been taking turns attacking Go Tower?" Shego asked loudly.

"Just two so far," said Hego.

"Dammit, Hego!" Shego cursed.

"It might just be a coincidence, sis," said Mego. "HellPike and Cold Stare have never worked together, in fact, their themes are completely opposite. Cold Stare could have just copied HellPike because he read about it in the paper."

Shego shot him an annoyed glare as well. "Coincidentally, right after getting the same suspicious power upgrade that HellPike got?"

Mego looked down. Shego turned back to Hego. "Tell me what's going on here."

"You already know it all," said Hego. "HellPike attacked the tower. I was the only one here and, for the first time, I had a hard time taking him down. When Mego and the Wegos showed up, we defeated him. A couple days ago Cold Stare started crossing the bay to our tower but we were all here so we intercepted him."

"And that's it?" asked Shego. "No other bizarre things have been happening?"

Hego looked to the Wegos who looked back slowly.

"Out with it," Shego demanded.

"Bella Negra was in here," said one of the Wegos. "And she took something."

"What?"

The Wegos shrugged and spoke inunison. "We don't know."

"How do you not know?" asked Shego. "What was missing?"

"Nothing," said Hego. "Nothing was missing. It was nothing."

"Clearly not nothing because you both... er, all three of you wanted to hide it."

Mego cleared his throat politely. "Sis, Bella Negra broke in and we chased her off. She clearly was carrying something when she left, but we can't figure out what it was."

"Nothing was missing?" Shego asked again.

"Nothing," admitted Mego.

Shego crossed her arms and sat back in her chair. The hard curve of the egg-shaped chair made such an action uncomfortable, but she didn't care. Something clearly was up, and her stupid brothers were trying to hide it from her for some reason. She may not have been very much involved in the lives of her family over the last five years, but that didn't mean she didn't care if they got hurt. And escalating powers combined with a series of more effective attacks certainly looked to be building up to some serious hurt. The questions were how and why.

"There's one other odd thing," said Mego quietly.

"Urgh," groaned Shego. "Hiding more stuff from me? Just tell me already!"

Mego looked at her strangely. "You came back."

Shego blinked, her train of thought suddenly derailed. "That... that has nothing to do with this," she said impulsively.

"How do we know that?" Hego said slowly.

Shego's jaw hung as she looked at Hego, then at the rest of the table. They were all looking at her, expectantly, and she suddenly realized why.

"Is that why you've been hiding this from me?" asked Shego. "You think I'm part of it?"

Mego looked uncomfortable. "You gotta admit, sis, it is kinda strange." He swallowed. "You're kinda strange," he barely uttered.

"I'm not..." Shego shook her head. "I'm your sister! I wouldn't use..." She would, she realized. Well, at one time in the past she would have.

"You're obviously acting very differently," said Hego.

Shego shook her head. "I-I don't think I'm..."

"Why did you come back, sis?" asked the Wegos.

"I wanted to," said Shego, though she'd had more than a few doubts about that in recent days.

"Why?" asked Mego.

"Because..." Shego started. She wanted to come back because she was having trouble fighting alone. She was having trouble fighting alone because she'd been fighting with Drakken. She was fighting with Drakken because they were...

Her head hurt. It always hurt when she thought about her time with Drakken. She was good, but she was hanging around with Drakken, a known criminal? Why would she have done that? The only answer was that she was helping him try to take over the world. But why would she do that? Her memories and identity were in conflict and she had no idea how to resolve the matter. She had persistently acted against her interests for so long for no reason she could make out. She desperately wanted it to make sense. She had no idea who she was or why she was doing anything without her identity but it didn't make sense. The only answer was that she wasn't who she remembered herself to be but that was impossible!

Shego hung her head and she felt tears on her cheeks. Was she crying? She could barely feel herself. Why couldn't everything make sense? _It used to make sense!_

"Sis?" Mego's voice said, softly and beside her.

"I don't know," she said finally, bringing voice to her mental anguish. "I don't know why." She buried her face in her hands. After a few moments, she felt a large, strong hand on her shoulder.

"Shego," Hego said.

Shego shrugged off Hego's hand and stood, momentarily composing herself. "I'm going to go," she announced and then moved to leave.

Before she reached the door she heard a voice from behind her, "Are you coming back?"

Shego half-turned. Hego was looking after her with a strangely hurt expression. She turned back and continued out the door.

---

Again Shego found herself walking Go city, unsure of what she was doing. This time she wasn't angry at Hego, though. She was angry at herself. That question had returned again. Why was she doing what she was doing? There was no answer. She could not spend any more time thinking about or she would just drive herself insane. In fact, she was pretty sure she was insane already.

But what else to do? Her family doubted her, and she had no way to really reassure them. Perhaps it was a bad idea to have come here after all. There could very well have been logic to avoiding Go city for so many years.

No, she couldn't just give up. If there was something wrong with her, there had to be a reason. Instead of dwelling on the differences, she could focus on what was likely to have caused them. But when did her dissonance start?

She thought of the Halloween party with HenchCo. That was certainly the last time she got along with Drakken. Hell, it was the last time she'd _seen_ Drakken, which was a little disconcerting in and of itself, but she tried not to be distracted by that. And there was that lunatic HenchCo employee with the Attitudinator gun, but...

She remembered when she was hit by the Attitudinator. It was actually quite distinct in her mind, the division between how she was and what she was doing. It was like looking into a mirror and seeing every action you perform become reversed. The experience was maddening, which of course was translated into giddiness by her attitude-reversed body. 'Miss Go' as that twisted version of herself was named was neither how she was as a kid nor what she'd become as an adult. She was just wrong, and Shego could do nothing about.

This was different. She had a hard time believing her confusion right now was just due to the Attitudinator gun. Though, she admitted, she had little idea how the stupid gun worked to begin with. Perhaps there was a chance it had to do with the damned invention. Fortunately she knew someone nearby that would be able to answer all her questions about it.

---

The loud buzzer announced the opening of the heavy door so that there would be no surprises to the guards inside the room. A second later, the steel rectangle swung open and a uniformed man led a woman with pale skin and grey hair into the room filled with tables and benches, all bolted to the floor, immovable. The guard took her over to a table and sat her down opposite a woman with long black hair wearing wire-rimmed glasses and a black leather coat over a green sweater. The bench was made of metal and surprisingly cold, causing the grey haired woman to shiver involuntarily.

"Thank you," said the woman in green as the guard walked away. There were several other guards in the room, but they were spending their time watching the other occupied tables in the room, having seen the woman with grey hair many times in the room and knowing she posed virtually no threat.

"Hello, Shego," Electronique said cheerily.

Shego sighed. She could only guess what was going through the villain's head right now, but she pushed it aside. She needed answers and the 'real' Electronique would probably do everything in her power to keep them from her.

"Hi, Electronique," Shego said, trying to be cordial. "How are... uh, things?"

"Very well, thank you," said the prisoner. "I'm treated rather well in here, especially since Jack Hench's people have started showing up."

"They're looking after you, are they?" asked Shego, trying to hide her disgust. HenchCo was using her, and she was too screwed up in the head to ever notice.

Electronique nodded with a smile. "How are things with you? I've heard you're back to your villainous ways."

"Yeah, well," Shego delayed. "I'm really not. I mean, I'm not like that."

"Like what, dear?" asked Electronique.

"It doesn't matter," Shego shook her head. "I'm here to ask you about the project you've been working on with HenchCo."

"Which one?"

Shego blinked. It hadn't occurred to her that she might have been helping out with more than the Attitudinator gun. She should have figured, though, considering she'd been essentially brainwashed to help anyone who seemed like they wanted it. "The, uh, gun based on the Attitudinator helmet," said Shego.

Electronique's face brightened. "Ah, the RB6000 Attitude Suppressor Gun!"

"Er, yeah."

"Interested in getting one?" asked Electronique with a knowing nod. Shego suddenly got the image of a smarmy salesman.

"God, no," said Shego. "I'm actually wondering if... uh... I've been affected by it."

"You've been shot with it?" asked Electronique.

"I don't know," admitted Shego. "It blew up, and ... I haven't felt right since."

"Well, it would be hard to tell if that was the gun," said Electronique. "Explosions are embodiments of entropy. How are you feeling?"

"Like I'm... wrong," said Shego, unsure of how to articulate two weeks of mental conflict.

"Hmmm," Electronique frowned. It was actually the first time since sitting down there was anything but a smile on her slightly chapped lips. "A proper dosage administered by the gun should suppress any feelings of cognitive dissonance. Though it's hard to say what you were hit with given the gun exploded."

"So, you don't know," Shego summarized. She was disappointed. At least if it was the gun, she'd know what was wrong and could try to cure it. Now she was just as lost as she was this morning, but now she had no leads.

"I am sorry," Electronique said.

Shego sighed, looking down. "If it was the gun," she said. "Could it fixed?"

"Yes," admitted Electronique. "Though it'd be a different approach for each person affected, depending on exposure amount and the strength of the adopted personality. But eventually it'll suffer decay, anyway."

"The effects wear off?" asked Shego, hopeful.

Electronique nodded. "Of course. It's not permanent, or they'd use it on everyone in here and let them go." She seemed cheerful at such a thought but Shego had to suppress the bile in her throat at such an aggressive method of behavioral reform.

"So eventually I'll feel normal again?" pressed Shego. "Assuming that it's because of the gun?"

"You'll _feel_ normal again, yes," replied the prisoner. "But, you might not actually _become_ normal again."

Shego raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"The effects of the gun decay, yes," said Electronique. "But the mind eventually adapts to the new personality. The rate of adaptation is different for every person, but, essentially, most will become an amalgam of the original personality and the one they adopted."

"What?!" Shego exclaimed, momentarily drawing the attention of the guards. She looked up at them and then awkwardly nodded, assuring them she was already. She looked back at Electronique. "How long until that starts happening?"

"Like I said, the rate is different for every person," she replied. "But on average it should be a couple months." She smiled at Shego. "But I don't really think you've been affected."

Shego leaned on her arm and rubbed her forehead. Two months. Eight weeks. That wasn't a lot of time. If she was affected, she needed to get cured. If anyone else at the HenchCo party was affected, they ALSO needed to get cured fast. She immediately remembered Kim asking her to join in dominating the world.

"Oh my god," Shego said. "Kim Possible was affected."

"She was?" asked Electronique. "What is she like now?"

"She's evil, obviously," Shego said as if there should be no doubt. "She used to be a hero, after all."

"Oh, right," said Electronique, hurriedly. "I didn't really know her very well."

"Whatever," said Shego. "So how I do reverse it before it starts to become permanent?"

"You wish to reverse the affects?" asked Electronique.

"Yes!" Shego stressed.

"You should talk to the lead designer at HenchCo then," said the prisoner. "He would know the most about the reversal since he worked with the psychologists. His name was John Bork."

Shego rolled her eyes. "We've met," she said. "He was a jerk." She thought back. "He was also at the party and holding the gun when it went off."

"Oh my," said Electronique.

Shego sighed. "If he got zapped with his own personality gun I'm going to be seriously upset with him. Where does he work?"

"I worked with him out of the HenchCo project office here in Go City, but I think he worked out of Middleton."

"Figures," said Shego. "Everything always goes back to Middleton."

"What do you mean?" Electronique cocked her head.

"Nothing." Shego looked at the woman across the table from her. She wished she could do something for her, but there was nothing to be done. The original Attitudinator was destroyed and this new gun was causing more trouble than it was worth. Though Shego wanted to blame her for the gun, she knew from experience she had little choice in the matter, regardless of how it appeared to others. "Well, thank you for the help."

"My pleasure," said Electronique, smiling as always. "Say, what did you dress up as for Halloween?"

Shego stared at her. "What?"

Electronique shifted a little uncomfortably in her seat. "The HenchCo people only come to work on their projects and the guards aren't very chatty. I miss normal, casual conversation."

Shego slowly nodded. "I ... I dressed up as Kim."

"Kim... Possible?" finished Electronique.

"Yeah," Shego blushed slightly. "It was a gag. I never expected her to dress up as me, though."

"You were dressed as each other?" the woman said with confusion. "Not as pirates or bakers or adventure archeologists?"

Shego shrugged. "I guess we think along the same lines sometimes."

"That's... uh," started Electronique. "What a coincidence, right?"

"Yeah," nodded Shego. She looked at her watch. "I really need to go."

"Okay," nodded the woman. "It was nice to talk, if only for a few seconds."

Shego waved the guard, who came by and gently took Electronique by the arm and started guiding her to the door. Shego sighed again, and noticed the plume of water vapor that momentarily appeared in the air before her. She rubbed her arms instinctively and looked around. The other people in the room had absently started rubbing their exposed arms or folding them to conserve heat.

"They really need to turn up the heat in here," Shego mused out loud. Wasn't it cruel and unusual punishment to try and freeze their inmates?

"It is on," said the guard by the door, as Shego went to leave. "The damn thing is on the fritz just in time for this cold spell. Figures."

Shego smiled kindly and then exited the room. After signing out she left the penitentiary, exiting out to the street where she basked in the heat the direct sunlight afforded her. She couldn't believe the temperature inside the prison, it seemed the city took every opportunity to make her feel unwelcomed.

Then she looked up and noticed the sun had been obscured by the clouds. She looked back at the doors to the prison. It wasn't just cold because of the weather, it was actually colder inside the prison than it was outside. Which could only be the case if they were running the A/C, but why would they do that?

Shego frowned deeper as an idea went through her head. She rejected it. He couldn't possibly be so dumb. It was a prison, for crying out loud.

Turning, Shego headed for the bus stop again. But a few steps later she slowed and turned back. He WAS quite stupid, she recalled. And, really, they would never think to look for him there. It could be considered, in a very limited set of circumstances, a clever idea for a criminal to hide inside a prison.

But was he...?

Shego marched back towards the prison and went back through the door. She went to the front desk and looked through the barred window at the man sitting beyond.

"Hey," said Shego. "How long as your heater been broken?"

The man looked baffled for a second then slowly responded. "Couple days, I guess. Ever since that blizzard." He regarded her suspiciously. "Is there something I help you with? Did you leave something inside?"

Shego shook her head. "This place got hit by that blizzard two days ago?"

"Yeah," nodded the man, who looked perplexed. "It was real short, but we were right in its path."

I'll bet, thought Shego. "I need to talk to your maintenance people."

"Are you a repairman?" asked the man. He then looked flustered for a second. "I mean, repair_woman_."

"Just get the head of maintenance down here," Shego said, bluntly. The man obliged.

---

Shego walked with the maintenance official around the back of the prison building. The man was tall, largely bald, and wearing a dark blue jumpsuit that had his name stitched on the left breast pocket. It read 'Earnest.' Shego imagined that the name was probably an asset when seeking a job at a correctional facility.

Apparently the machinery was kept in a separate building on the penitentiary grounds with just the pipes running underground into the jail itself. This meant that it was hard for prisoners to get access to it, and easier for non-prisoners. Shego imagined that the blizzard was such a white-out nobody could see more than a few feet through the windows and the concrete building they were approaching was easily twenty or thirty feet away.

"Nobody else came to look at it yet?" asked Shego.

The man shook his head. "Put the order in yesterday when we couldn't figure out what was wrong, but nobody's come to fix it what with the blizzard and all. Lotsa people got surprised by that storm."

"I imagine," said Shego. "So it's on and working but it's not creating heat, right?"

"That's right," said the man. They reached the door and he pulled out a sizable keyring. "The warden doesn't like to distribute extra blankets 'cause of how they might be used for weapons or whatnot. So he had a right old fit when we couldn't get the temperature up above sixty. Said he'd have the whole of the city after him if a prisoner died of pneumonia."

"But the furnace is going," said Shego.

"That's right. But no heat comin' out."

Shego watched as Earnest found the key he was looking for and put it into the lock. He gave it turn and was surprised to feel resistance. He tried again to no luck.

"Must be stuck," he explained, puffing up his chest. Shego rolled her eyes at the obvious display of male egocentrism. She watched as he made another couple attempts at it, finally succeeding in breaking the key off in the lock.

"Huh," he said, looking at the stub of the key in his hand.

"Right," said Shego. She leaned in to look at the lock. She could see tiny crystals forming over the bold. She put her and on the door and then immediately removed it, surprised at how it felt. "It's ice cold."

"See? That's what we were talkin' about," said Earnest. "I'll have to get the spare and some pliers."

Shego nodded to him, and the maintenance man walked off. Once he was out of eyesight, she extended her finger and pressed it against the lock. The tip glowed and soon it was melting through the lock.

Once the latch was slag on the ground she pulled hard on the door, meeting some resistance at first but eventually managing to break it loose. It slid open rapidly and she was immediately buffeted with cold, as if she'd just opened a walk-in freezer. She shivered once and peered inside.

It was dark inside but to one side of the room she could see the dim glow of the furnace. It was indeed on, as Earnest had said, but it apparently had not been hot enough to battle the thick layer of ice on the walls and on the floor all around the boiler. Shego walked in and lit her hand up to cast a green glow on the room. The ice caused her light to reflect and sparkle as if it were Christmas. She ventured in.

It was terribly cold, but she knew she could stand up to extreme temperatures for at least a short while and pressed on. Huge pipes and conduits stretched up out of the huge burning furnace, traveling around the walls, before diving into a hole on one side of the small building. Presumably, the hole traveled under the open area and into the main building where the jail cells were. She continued on and quickly explored the whole floor, finding little more than the furnace and a couple supply closets devoid of hiding criminals.

Shego was annoyed. This ice was coming from somewhere, and there was little doubt it was unnatural, but she couldn't see Cold Stare anywhere. She searched closer, using her power to melt some of the ice in places that she thought she might have seen something. After ten minutes, she figured that Earnest was going to return soon and she was going to be forced to answer some uncomfortable questions unless she made herself scarce. She looked around once more, resigning herself to getting her brothers and bringing them back here as soon as possible.

She took two steps towards the door when she noticed the nicely formed, square patch of ice on the ground. She'd melted the ice there before looking for a floor hatch and had not seen anything, but now the ice had reformed alarming fast. Nowhere else in the room where she'd melted the ice had it already returned. She approached the patch cautiously and melted it again. This time she held her hand close to the ground where the patch was and looked for any seams.

To her annoyance, she found a hinge and from there traced the line for a square metal cover. The size was essentially the same as the patch of ice that had been there before. She reached down and poked around with her glowing finger until she found a recessed handle to grab. Taking a good grip on it, she yanked it open.

And only barely moved fast enough to avoid being completely encased in ice. She scrambled backwards on the ground looking in horror at her right shoulder and upper arm covered in a huge chunk of ice. She looked back towards the hatch to see a figure pull itself up out of the hole. It was a man with completely white skin and hair and icy blue eyes wearing a jumpsuit that was mostly a light blue or teal with accents in the shape of 'V's across his chest in a dark midnight blue. He had a light blue hood on his jumpsuit that had been pulled back and hung behind him as he looked stoically at Shego, who was using a glowing hand to quickly melt the ice, hopefully without burning herself. A wave of mist constantly rolled off of him, slowly covering the ground of the building with a dense, cold fog.

"Shego?" Cold Stare said. His voice was strange, hollow, like it was echoing in his own chest. His words were slow and measured without any hint of emotion.

"G-give it up Cold Stare!" Shego said, falling back in a panic to her teenaged ways. She was shivering from the ice and couldn't help her teeth from chattering. "Geeze, what the hell were you doing in there?!"

The cold form stared aimlessly for a moment then turned with glacial speed to look back at the hole he'd just climbed out of a few seconds before. Then, with the same motions, turned back to look at Shego. "Staying warm."

"H-here's a hint," Shego said as she finally melted enough of the ice to move her arm. "If you're trying to stay cold, covering yourself in ice is a bad idea!" She started scrambling to her feet. The sudden motion seemed to surprise Cold Stare who swiftly rose his hand at her. It flashed white before a beam of ice shot out.

Shego rose her arm instinctively and lit it in green fire to block the beam. She quickly had to turn up the heat and added her other hand in front of her as ice began to creep onto her elbows and quickly moving up her arm. Cold Stare's attack was relentless and Shego quickly realized she'd never keep up.

She tried to flare her powers up for an instant and hopefully push back the ice long enough to dive to the side towards the door. Grunting as she willed the green energy to the surface of her skin, she dove for the outdoors, but failed to get one leg away in time and landed with a heavy thump. Almost her entire left leg was covered in a block of ice and Shego stared at the door, only five feet away.

Shego looked back to see Cold Stare slowly turning to face her again. "W-w-what hap-p-pened to you?" Shego stuttered.

"I... am cold," the tall, pale man said. "So cold."

"I can see that!" Shego said. She slowly moved her arm down to touch the ice on her leg and began trying to melt it. "How did you get that way?"

Cold Stare looked slightly upwards. "I... can't remember."

"Feh, join the club," Shego scoffed.

"I... can't get warm anymore," Cold Stare slowly said. "Fires go out when I get near."

"That's because you're a goddamn snowman!" Shego said. She had melted the ice above her knee and bent slightly to reach her shin.

"Just want to be warm," the ice man said, looking down at Shego. He slowly took a step towards her.

"T-then w-why did you attack G-Go Tower?" asked Shego. "I tell you, there's no g-great bonfire in there."

"I was looking for you," said Cold Stare.

Shego's hand went out for a second. She quickly lit it again and pressed down on the ice on her ankle. "Me? W-what do you w-want from me?"

Cold Stare looked down at Shego's leg or, more specifically, her glowing hand. "Fire."

"Fire?" said Shego. She followed his gaze. "M-my fire?"

The man looked up at her again. If it weren't for the clear dearth of emotion on the man of ice's face, Shego could have sworn it was a leer. "Warm me."

Shego swallowed. "I h-hope you m-mean with liquor."

Cold Stare took another step closer to her. Shego blanched then turned up the flames in her hand melting the ice. Her hand rapidly passed through the ice and landed on her calf, heavily burning it. Shego yelped in pain, then grit her teeth and pushed herself towards the door.

"Y-you're crazy!" she yelled. "S-snap out of this, C-Cold Stare!"

"I need warmth," said the man.

Shego pushed with her unburned leg to get herself near the door and tried to stand. Cold Stare raised his hand on her and the flash of white heralded another intense beam of ice. Shego had her hands and burning brighter than she'd ever forced them before. She could feel her hands frying under the intense heat while her arms froze from the cold. She tried to step back but her burned leg sent shooting pains up her spine and she toppled backwards, thankfully out of the way of Cold Stare's ice beam.

The stoic man didn't hesitate, however, and turned his hand towards Shego's legs, encasing both in ice. Shego screamed from the cold and felt her whole body shaking from the onset of hypothermia. She could recover from a lot, but she doubted if being encased in ice was within her ability to bounce back from.

"WARM ME," Cold Stare bellowed, inching ever closer.

"W-what do you w-w-want me to do?!" asked Shego. Her head was swimming in panic. For the first time in her life she was terrified that she was going to die. If she wasn't already shivering from cold she would be shaking in terror.

Cold Stare came closer still.

"What?" yelled Shego. "W-WHAT CAN I DO?" She held up her glowing hand between herself and the approaching figure.

Cold Stare then fell to his knees and reached out to grab Shego's forearm. He then pulled her forward until her glowing hand was pressed into the center of his chest. Shego could hear sizzling as steam floated up from where they were in contact. "WARM ME!" he cried out.

Shego's mind stopped reasoning and did the only thing it could to save herself. Her hand turned into a blaze of green fire and began to sink to Cold Stare's body, spewing out steam in every direction.

"AAAAAAHHH!" Shego yelled, horrified at what she was doing. Her screams were joined by Cold Stare's. Whether he was crying out in pain or joy, it was impossible to tell. In less than a minute, Shego hand passed clean through the man's chest and he fell to the side, his hand still holding her arm.

Shego put out the green flame as soon as she had her wits about her and looked at the slowly moving form of Cold Stare lying beside her, a whole where his chest should have been. Despite Shego removing her hand, the hole was rapidly growing as the body, that appeared as human as the next, began to melt.

"Oh my g-g-god," Shego said looking at the man she'd essentially murdered.

"Soooo cooolld," Cold Stare said as his body was disintegrating.

"C-Cold Stare," Shego said, looking at him.

The man turned his head a fraction of an inch towards Shego. "Thank... you..." he slowly voiced.

Shego felt tears falling down her cheeks for the second time today. But this time, she knew why.

"Who did this to you?" Shego asked though her sobs.

Cold Stare got a look of serenity on his face and his gaze unfocused. "The Creator," he slowly sputtered as his chin and tongue started to melt in his mouth.

A moment later there was nothing but a puddle beside Shego's still form. She shakily raised her arm and wiped her face with her sleeve. She blinked slowly and tried to focus on her legs. She moved her hand to rest on the ice and watched as the green flame sputtered at her fingertips but failed to ignite.

She rested her head for a second to try and build her energy again. She noticed she wasn't shaking anymore, and wondered if that meant she was finally warming. She felt tired as she lay there, and considered taking a brief nap. It would the best way to restore her energy, after all. Then, when she was rested, she could take another shot at melting the ice on legs.

Yeah. That sounded like a good plan. She gently closed her eyes and was enveloped by the darkness.

---


	6. In Germany, They're Called Dackel

6. In Germany, They're Called Dackel

---

Kim Possible leaned slightly out of the open door of the cargo plane while her hand absently tugged on the strap that held her parachute against her back. She could see the beginnings of the Austrian Alps just ahead, which meant Bischofshoven would be only a few minutes away. She pulled herself back into the plane and looked over at her companions.

Ron Stoppable was sitting on an abused metal trunk while looking over a series of notes he was holding tightly in his hand. The strong wind coming in from the open door was making the slips of paper in his hand dance vigorously, impeding his ability to read them well. Still, occasionally, he would flatten them out on his knee and make a mark with a pencil, apparently correcting some errant math in his latest innovation.

Montgomery Fiske, the reluctant servant of the two teens, was huddled about as far back into the plane as he could be, clutching the straps to his parachute with an iron grip that could rend steel. His face was stuck in the same grumpy expression he'd had for the last few days, though every now and then an errant noise from one of the propellers would catch his attention and he'd jerk his head in its direction searching for, Kim supposed, a sudden fire or perhaps a missile.

Kim bounded over to Monty and slapped him hard on the back. "Hang in there, Monty!" she said with an evil grin. "I've jumped out of planes flying _much_ higher than this."

Monty scowled at the perky captor. "We could have taken a _train_!" he said, irritated. "Or a car. Why are we in a plane? How did you even _arrange_ a flight with no money?"

Kim gestured with her head towards the pilot. "Bertha up there owed me one for saving her from some tribal hunters the last time she crashed her plane in Asia."

"Crashed?!" Monty asked, his eyes going wide. "She frequently _crashes_?"

Kim shrugged. "I wouldn't say frequently, just one or twice a year."

Monty's grip on his parachute tightened.

"But hey! We've already got parachutes, there's nothing to worry about," Kim grinned.

"How are we supposed to get _back_?" asked Monty. "We can't very well jump back up into the plane!"

Kim jabbed her finger towards Ron. "He said he had an idea. I leave the science-y stuff to him."

Monty looked over at Ron. The blue-jacketed boy was scribbling quickly on a paper when a sudden shutter in the plane caused him to lose his grip and several pages went flying out the door.

"Aw, man!" Ron whined. Then he pulled out a handful of crumpled notes from his pocket and began flattening them out and looking through them. Occasionally he made frustrated glances at the open door as if it had stiffed him his tip.

"We are all doomed," Monty concluded.

"Where's your sense of adventure, Monty?" laughed Kim.

"I left it at the airport," grumbled Monty. "I am not well suited to flying."

"Come on, haven't you seen Wizard of Oz? There were definitely flying monkeys in there."

"That is _fiction_!" yelled Monty.

"We're comin' up on yer drop zone!" a raspy voice called back from the cockpit. Monty could barely hear the woman's voice from his position in his plane, but he was fairly certain that she had just announced his doom.

Kim roughly helped Monty to his feet and then patted his shoulder. Though her 'patted' could easily have been mistaken for 'punched.' "Time to go!"

"I'd rather take my chances with the poor pilot," said Monty, trying to stand his ground.

Ron walked up, shoving notes into his pocket. He pointed his finger at Fiske's nose. "Now, now, that sounds like mutiny to me!" he said in a dark tone. "You don't want me to turn up my little remote, do you?"

Monty grimaced and idly felt the metal collar around his neck. "No," he said through gritted teeth. He moved towards the door, clutching the rails on either side, and peered out. The earth was so far below, it made his knees weak. He wasn't sure he'd be able to let go if he'd wanted to, his body could very well reject the message from his brain. He wondered what he'd do then. Would he just let himself be killed by the damnable collar? Would he finally find out if Kim Possible had become as evil as she certainly appeared to be? Would he—

Interrupting Monty's internal monologue, Kim kicked him sharply in the side, launching him out of the plane and into a rapid fall. His screams were surprisingly audible for several seconds afterwards.

"You don't suppose he'll forget to open his parachute?" Kim asked Ron, showing concern similar to one might feel for someone else's pet hamster.

"I can only hope," said Ron. He reached into his coat and adjusted a series of straps beneath the leather jacket. Kim looked into the darkened recesses with curiosity.

"What do you have in there?" asked Kim. "You don't seem to have a parachute."

"Hee hee... hmm humm, yeaahahahahahaha! What, indeed!" replied Ron.

"Right," Kim rolled her eyes. It was silly to have even asked. She moved to the door and looked out to see if she could find Monty. She couldn't see very far down at night, but she believed she could spot the barest indication of a red and white parachute drifting behind them. She looked back to her boyfriend and partner in crime. "Well, see you at the bottom!"

Ron gave her a thumbs-up and Kim dove out of the plane. She relished the feeling of the dive. Sailing through the air at dusk on a clear day was one of the few rushes that never ceased to be satisfying for her. Monty had hit the nail on the head earlier. They _could_ have taken a train or a car, but then she wouldn't have been able to do this, and would never do.

She felt a tingling in her body as she fell, the excitement turning her nerves to fire. As soon as she pulled on the chute, it would end, so she tried to stretch it out as long as possible. She flew past Monty, who she'd spotted as she descended, and watched the horizon carefully to judge her distance from the ground. It was over all too soon in her opinion, but if her life was any model, she'd have another opportunity in the near future.

With a dissatisfied sigh, she pulled the cord for her parachute and felt the jerk of the harness slowing her fall. Now was the waiting for the ground. That was always the boring part.

A whistling sound from above caught Kim's ear and she craned her neck to try and see above her past her parachute. It was ultimately futile, but a moment later a large gray sphere sailed past her at terminal velocity. The wind in its wake threw Kim's descent off and she pulled hard on the control handles to steer herself back onto the planned land zone. Looking down at the area, she noticed the gray ball had landed in the same location. She wondered if their plan had already been compromised.

Doubtless in her ability, Kim pulled her parachute slightly more closed to increase her speed and get to the sphere sooner rather than later. She landed hard and rolled to the side after uncoupling her parachute, her hands already up and ready to guard in case there was trouble.

The gray sphere sat silently, unmoving.

Kim frowned after a few seconds and straightened her stance. Looking back up, she wondered if the sphere had fallen out of the plane they were in, though she didn't recall anything so big in the cargo hold. She walked up to is and gently rapped her knuckle against the surface. The metal sounded solid as there was almost no echo. Kim boggled at how much a seven-foot diameter metal sphere could weight. Looking at the ground, it had embedded itself into the surface about a half foot or more.

With a lurch, the sphere started to rumbled and Kim jumped back. A moment later a silvery seam appeared, bisecting the sphere then splitting suddenly open, each half being thrown a few feet to either side. A cloud of yellowish smoke billowed out from the crater left behind.

"-cough!- -kaff!-"

Kim frowned. "Ron?" she ventured.

As the dust settled Kim could see Ron waving around in the middle of the cloud, trying to get it to disperse more quickly. He coughed several more as he stepped out of the indentation and up to kim. He was covered in a thin film of yellow powder.

"Bleh," Ron said, sticking his tongue out. "That requires refinement." He reached into his pocket, pulled out a notepad, and crossed something out vigorously.

"What was that?" asked Kim pointing to one of the halves of the sphere.

"A Rapid Impact Neutralizer," said Ron. He shoved the notebook into his pocket and paused, noticing the yellow powder on his coat. He began patting himself down to dislodge the dust. "Much more compact than a parachute and works at much lower heights." He looked at the yellow caked powder all over his hands. "Err, well, it's supposed to."

"That was under your coat?"

"The compounds was in my pocket," said Ron. "When they mixed, they created the shell and filler foam. Outer surface gets hard, inner parts stay warm and gooey. Like a Mars bar."

Kim made a face. "Ew."

"It was supposed to taste like nougat too," added Ron. "But it most definitely did not."

"I no longer want to hear about this," concluded Kim.

"Where's Monkey Fist?" asked Ron, looking around.

"Up here."

Ron and Kim looked up into the nearby trees and saw a small patch of red and white fabric sticking out of a fairly large pine.

"Wow, you weren't joking," said Kim.

"Get me down."

"All that monkey agility and you can't climb a tree?" asked Ron, smirking.

"I am tied up in the parachute, please cut me down."

"You know you could control your descent, right?" asked Kim.

"Just throw me a knife, and I can do it myself."

"Kim, you don't need a Christmas tree do you?" asked Ron.

"Oh dear god," groaned Monty.

"Why, in fact I might! Do you think I might be able to find one?" replied Kim in mock surprise.

"Just turn the dial, I don't care anymore."

"I think there might be one around. How much Englishman are you looking for in your tree?" posed Ron.

"This is so pathetic," grumbled Monty. "You're not funny. Not funny at all."

"At least one," nodded Kim. "Two if you got 'em."

"I'm glad we're all focused on the mission."

"Ehh, two might be hard," said Ron. "You might have to settle for one."

"You know what?" said Monty. "Forget it. There's some slack cord here, I'll just hang myself. You two carry on."

---

Kim, Ron, and Monty made their way over the eighteen foot tall fence around Professor Dementor's expansive mountaintop schloss and approached the drive leading up the rest of the way. The area was covered in snow, as it always seemed to be, though someone had had the courtesy to plow the driveway. An unlit shack stood to one side of the pavement, a dark shadow covered in snow that only barely concealed the sign on the front reading "Professor Dementor's Secret Lair & Gift Haus."

"Hmm," mused Monty, staring at the unlit gift shop.

"I guess sales are down," commented Ron.

"He has a gift shop at his own secret lair," Monty said, deadpan.

Kim patted Monty on the back. "Well, we can't all cruise around with our own monkey ninja army." She headed up the drive towards the castle.

"This is hardly stealthy," said Monty as they walked.

Kim looked to Ron, who nodded. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a disc that looked like a hockey puck with a button on one side. He twisted one side of the puck and hit the button, causing it to glow dimly and slightly buzz. He nodded satisfactorily.

"Ah, good, it didn't explode," he said.

Monty blinked. "Was it supposed to?"

"No," said Ron as he was turning to face Kim. "That'll keep any cameras from seeing us. We should be clear unless someone actually looks out a window."

"Spankin'," said Kim with a grin and continued on.

---

"What exactly are we here to get?" asked Monty, still hoping for some sort of slaves pass out of this mission despite being in the process of climbing over a parapet onto a battlement.

"Parts to Ron's machine," said Kim. "Doy!"

"No, I meant specifically," said Monty, rolling his eyes.

Kim pulled a sheet of paper out of her pocket as she searched for a trap door into the schloss. "Here's our shopping list," she said, handing it to Monty. She then kneeled down and began tugging on a metal ring attached to an off-color section of the flooring.

Monty perused the listing. "This has items on it like 'Really cool laser'," he pointed out.

"I don't know what Dementor has," said Ron like Monty was stupid for asking. "Some of it is up to interpretation."

"Have I pointed out how dumb this plan is yet?" asked Monty.

"_Yes_," Ron said angrily. "_Several times_."

"Well, some things just bear repeating."

"Here we go," said Kim as she pulled on the ring and revealed a ladder down. "One way ticket to Dementor-land."

Ron smiled and jumped down the hole. Monty walked up to it and looked down uneasily. Then he looked up at Kim again. "I wish you wouldn't say 'one way' with such enthusiasm."

"Who would have known you were such a Chatty Cathy?" said Kim.

Monty grumbled something as he jumped down. Kim followed afterwards.

--

The trio crept silently up to the corner and Kim peeked her head around to take a look. She eyed the upcoming corridor expertly.

"It's clear," she said. Ron and Monty followed her around the corner and towards the staircase at the end.

"I don't get it, where's all his men? Or his Dachshunds?" asked Ron, looking around. The halls were adorned with some rather expensive looking Bavarian furnishings, long tapestries, gilded chairs, stuffed pillows, and not a single gray jumpsuit wearing thug to ruin the view. He'd have appreciated it more if it didn't seem like somehow Dementor had set a trap for them.

"Dachshunds are called Dackel here," said Monty. "And maybe they're at his summer home."

"Or off stealing something," said Kim, slightly more seriously. "Either way it's good for us, nothing to get in the way of us and his loot."

"Whose loot?" came a voice from behind them.

The gang froze then slowly turned around. A short man with curly brown hair and a goatee wearing a red sweater was poking his head out a doorway they'd just walked past. He blinked and squinted slightly.

"Er," said Kim, unsure if she should knock him out or try to play it cool with the unknown stranger in Dementor's house.

"Kim Possible?" said the man in surprise.

"Um, yeah?" answered Kim. Knocking him out was becoming a much more enticing option. She started walking casually back towards the man and hopefully get within fist distance.

"What are you doing here?" the man asked, stepping into the hallway. He was wearing brown slacks and black boots with an open book held in his other hand. "Is there a crime going on?"

"Um," Kim looked awkwardly toward Ron and Monty. "Sure. You know Dementor, he's always up to no good, aheh." She grimaced. "Er, so, who are you, again?"

The man blinked. Then he laughed. Kim suddenly worried she was talking to Dementor's brother or cousin. Insanity could run in the family.

"I'm Dementor," said the man. "Well, I was anyway."

Kim's brain shut down.

"Wait, wait," Ron said, stepping up. "_You're_ Professor Dementor?"

The man laughed again in a manner Ron would almost call 'jolly.'

"I _was_ Professor Dementor," said the man. He carefully marked his place in the book he was carrying and closed it. "I'm sure the mask I used to wear has thrown you, but I assure you, I am the very same 'Professor Dementor' you used to wage a battle of wits and wills with." He smiled in exactly the way a notoriously evil villain wouldn't.

Kim blinked a few times as her brain finished rebooting and she stared at the man with no less confusion than Monty, who had been stricken into silence. "So... this is what you look like between bouts of villainy?" she asked.

"Not exactly," Dementor said with a tilting of his head. "I mean, I put all that away for good now. No more world domination for me. I've decided to stop putting off pursuing my real passion."

"You had a bigger passion than world domination?" asked Ron.

"Of course," said Dementor. "But some things can only be done when you're young, so, you know."

"But now you're not," Kim said, trying to follow along.

"It's gone on too long with no success," nodded Dementor. "So it's time to go after my life dream."

"I'm sure I'll regret asking this," Monty said. "But what is your true passion?"

Dementor got a giant smile and held up the book in his hand. "Teaching secondary school literature."

The trio stared blankly at the former villain.

"Would you like some cocoa?" asked Dementor.

---

Four former adversaries sat uneasily on four plush chairs before a fire and drinking cocoa. None of them were really sure what was supposed to happen next. Kim and Ron had come to steal equipment, but had been derailed from their plan by being invited for a drink after they had broken in. Monty had come to avoid being murdered but was starting to wonder if that was such a wise idea. And Dementor was considering the parallels between the Phantom of the Opera and The Scarlet Letter and wondering if his guests needed more cocoa.

"More cocoa?" asked Dementor. He received three declines.

"So, this is clearly not a joke," said Kim. "So what's the deal? As soon as I see the light on this villainy thing it's no longer _trendy_?"

Dementor laughed again. His jovial attitude was starting to grate on Kim. "No, not at all, Kim," he said. "I've just seen my own failure enough times to understand the trend. And after that fight at HenchCo's Halloween party, I realized there's no dignity in it anymore."

"Wait, you were at HenchCo's party?" said Ron. "I don't remember you being there."

"I showed up just before the fight," said Dementor. "You were pre-occupied."

"Oh," said Ron.

"So, high school English?" asked Kim. "That can't possibly be more exciting than world domination. What gives?"

"Nothing nefarious, Kim Possible," explained Dementor. "Our destiny is not always the direct result of each of our actions. I just always wanted to teach literature. And, that doesn't mean 'English' literature."

"Whatever," said Kim, shaking her head. She used to think her life was weird. Apparently, she had no idea how weird it could get.

"Pay her no mind," said Monty. "She doesn't understand people wanting to get out of the hero/villainy gig."

Dementor smiled. "You too?" he asked.

"I tried to anyway," grumbled Monty. He tugged gently at his collar.

"Well, since you're done with it all," started Ron. "I don't suppose you want to let us take some of that old equipment of yours off your hands."

"My equipment?" asked Dementor. "Oh, you mean all that junk in east battlement."

"Sure, that," said Kim.

"Help yourself," shrugged Dementor. "I was going to give it to Drakken but, first come, first serve."

"Booya!" Ron announced, jumping to his feet. He headed for the staircase and then vanished from sight.

"He'll be busy for a while, then?" said Dementor.

"Yeah, probably," said Kim. She leaned back in her chair.

"So, tell me why the change in heart?" said Dementor.

"'Fraid not, Dementor," said Kim. "I'm not the open heart type."

"Please, call me Jurgen."

"Jurgen... Dementor?" asked Kim, unsure if she wanted to know.

"Jurgen Demenz, originally," said the man. "But I did change my name to 'Dementor' in the late nineties." He paused and rubbed his chin ponderously. "Alas, an accommodation I should have resisted as now that it serves me no purpose and appears to scare away primary school children."

"I empathize," said Monty.

"So, wait, you gave up your villainy last month?" asked Kim. "Do you even have a job as a teacher yet?"

"Regrettably, not yet," said Jurgen. "I am told in January I could substitute, however."

Kim shook her head. "You two are completely insane!"

"Really? I think what we did before is more insane than now," said Jurgen. "There's no future in villainy." He shrugged in an honest way.

"There's— uh," Kim struggled. She was baffled by the responses from these former A-List villains it was hard for her to even articulate her confusion. "You can't tell me that teaching Chekhov or spending your days dusting old pottery is in anyway more exciting than flying around the world disrupting governments!" She stood and paced around the two chairs where Monkey Fist and Dementor sat.

"Everyone finds fun in their own way," suggested Jurgen.

"You didn't seem to be lacking in any fun _before_," stressed Kim. "The only thing you really had against you back then was me. And here I am! Ready to join the right side of things! Happy to drink the kool-aid! But, wait, you decide, yes, that's the day you're going to _retire_!?"

"It just felt right," said Jurgen, nodding.

"One can only put up with failure for so long," said Monty, shaking his head.

"But only obstacle between you and victory has absconded! Resigned! Switched Teams! Left the building!" Kim was exasperated.

"It's not that important to me anymore," said the former Professor Dementor.

"Aarrgggh!" Kim gripped her head in frustration. She fell back into her chair. "That's ridiculous. You can't just go from over-the-top passionate about conquering the world one day to ready to join the local rotary club the next without someone seriously screwing with your—"

Kim froze. She perked her head up as the answer struck her like lightening. "The Attitudinator."

"The what?" asked Monty.

"Of course!" said Kim, jumping again from her chair. "It all makes sense!"

"Well it doesn't to us, fraulein," said Jurgen. "Maybe you should explain it."

"The Attitudinator! Jack Hench's personality reversal device," said Kim. "Ron got hit with it last year and Shego just earlier this year. It completely reverses your personality from good to evil or evil to good." She slapped her forehead. "I should have thought of this earlier."

Jurgen shared a look with Monty, who both then looked back towards Kim. "Don't take it too hard, I'm sure it's hard to imagine your thoughts being manipulated."

Kim frowned. "Not too hard, I mean, I've seen it in action at least twice," she said. "So, you understand what must of happened at that Halloween party last month? That HenchCo guy was firing off that Attitudinator gun left and right."

Monty and Jurgen nodded with sympathetic looks on their faces. "It makes sense," Monty said.

Kim got a determined grin on her face. "Then that's really what we need to do next. Get that gun back from HenchCo."

"Sounds reasonable," said Jurgen.

"And fix the two of you," said Kim looking between Jurgen and Monty.

The two ex-villains stared back. "Wait, what?" said Monty.

"Us?" said Jurgen. "What about you?"

"What about me?" asked Kim, confused. "You two obviously got hit with the gun, I'm fine."

"I didn't get hit with anything!" said Monty.

"Neither did I," said Jurgen. "And I do not appreciate you belittling my dream of being a literature teacher by implying it's due to some Jack Hench toy! That American stooge's company couldn't design a decent cup of coffee, let alone a mind manipulation device. I ran circles around those fools!" He furrowed his brow as he glared at Kim.

"You two don't find it at all suspicious that you ditched villainy the same day you got knocked out by the explosion of that Attitudinator gun?" asked Kim, plainly.

"You don't find it strange you decided to take up villainy and abandon heroism?" asked Monty.

"I'd had enough of the world begging me for help then turning around and getting itself back into trouble again, no mystery there," said Kim. "And I wasn't knocked out by the Attitudinator, all of you were. I saw what happened, and Ron and I were the only ones who were still conscious after it exploded."

"I have always loved archeology," said Monty.

"And I literature," said Jurgen.

"Maybe you did, but you certainly didn't care that much about them before Halloween," said Kim. "You were both cackling madmen, hell bent on beating me and claiming some prize as the ruler of the world."

"I ... er, certainly had a flair for the dramatics, but it was just part of the role," said Jurgen, slightly hesitating.

"And you," said Kim, pointing at Monty. "You love archeology so much you decided to have your hands and feet surgically replaced by DNAmy? How does that make sense?"

"There ... there was a lot of evidence supporting simian worship in the digs I worked on," said Monty, a little unsure. "I thought it would... uh, help me understand those findings better."

"Oh, come ON!" said Kim. "Can't you hear how flimsy those excuses are?"

Monty looked slightly down and Jurgen looked to the side, into the fire.

"There is... a slight bit of reason in what you say," Jurgen said quietly.

"See?" Kim replied.

"But it makes no difference, I don't want to be that man anymore."

"But it's who you really _are_!" said Kim. "And with me on your side, you don't have to fail at it anymore."

"I-I'm not really..."

"_Dementor_," said Kim. "You were the best mad scientist in the villainy community, and you think you can be content now as a nobody substitute teacher to a band of smug, unruly, ungrateful high schoolers?" She paused and blinked. "Wow, I suddenly understand how Barkin must have felt."

"I ... can be content," said Jurgen.

"Maybe," Kim said. "But can you sleep easily knowing that any contentment you feel is really fake, and that _Jack Hench_ put that feeling of satisfaction in your brain just to get you out of the way, just so that his products would have no competition in the world of cutting edge technology?"

Jurgen's expression darkened slightly at the mention of Hench's name.

Kim slinked up to Jurgen's chair and leaned in to carefully whisper in his ear. "You know he's probably laughing every night now. Patting himself on the back at how easy it was. One cheap party and a shot from his gun and bam! No world class genius scientist here anymore. Just a timid, lowly, unknown, high school teacher, explicitly programmed to never get in his way or challenge his seat at the top... _ever_... _again_!"

"Get away from me!" Jurgen suddenly growled and pushed Kim forcefully back. He was gritting his teeth and was breathing hard.

"What's the matter, Jurgy?" asked Kim with a wide smile and evil eyes. "Got a little temper, do—"

"Get out of my home!" Jurgen snapped. "I showed you hospitality and you try to rile me up for what? Fun? Get out!"

"You know I'm right," said Kim.

"Get. OUT."

Kim smirked and turned her head towards Monty by kept her eyes on Dementor. "Get up, Monty, and help Ron carry his stuff."

"What if I don't believe that—"

"I don't care what you believe, go do it or your neck will become extra crispy," Kim said sharply. She raised a hand and pointed her thumb towards the stairs. Monty sighed and stood then slowly left the room leaving Kim and Jurgen alone.

"You too," Jurgen said.

Kim reached into her pocket and pulled out a small card. "I know you think you don't believe me now, but that will change. When it does, give me a call." She threw the card at the man who reflexively caught it between his palm and chest. Kim then smiled again and blew him a kiss before turning towards the stairs. "Catch you later, Jurgy!"

In a minute, Kim had vanished down the stairs the same way Monty had. Jurgen's scowl didn't lessen as he held the card in his hand and stared at it. It read: "Kim Possible, I Can Do Anything I Please," then listed a phone number with a British international code.

Jurgen crushed the card in his fist then threw it into the fire, momentarily enjoying watching it go up in a puff of smoke. Then he turned away and sat down in his chair and thought.

He had a lot to think about.

---

Author's Note: A little late and a little short we were here. Next week's will be longer to compensate.

The chapter title is factual, and it bothered me slightly that Dementor referred to his dogs as Dachshunds in "Bonding" despite being, at the time, in Bavaria.

Also, reviews are very much welcome and encouraged. I didn't get any this past week about 'Cold Shoulder,' which makes it hard for me to determine if people didn't like the Shego-centric chapter or just didn't care. Since I'm writing this story as a weekly series, feedback has a pretty good chance of affecting future chapters.


	7. Lost In The Dark

7. Lost In The Dark

---

Shego felt motion, but couldn't quite figure out why or how. She last remembered lying down someplace cold, and now she was being moved, rather roughly in fact, and quite fast. Sharp sounds and strange tones assaulted her ears and it took her a few minutes to realize she was hearing voices. They sounded so strange, almost alien.

She tried to look around but she felt tired, her neck was stiff, her eyes stuck almost entirely closed. She listened intently, trying to resolve the voices into words she recognized.

"--EEG is weak--"

"—need heated blankets and prep warm saline for lavage—"

"—please, sir, you have to stand back."

"What is wrong with her? Tell me something!"

"She's in Stage 3 hypothermia. Her core body temperature is severely low which is causing critical organ shutdown and dysrhythmia."

"Dissa...uh...?"

"Dysrhythmia, her heart isn't beating right. But we can't treat that until we warm her up."

"Then put her under a heat lamp or something!"

"It's not that simple, if we don't control the blood flow, cold blood from her arms and legs will rush to her heart and stop it dead. We need to bring her core body temperature up before increasing blood flow, but that can cause complications as her other organs warm up but aren't receiving enough blood. Also, there's the frostbite on her arms and hands. If there's nerve damage it may turn gangrenous and we'll have to amputate."

"You can't amputate my sister's hands!"

"We'll do everything we can to prevent it."

"No, you don't understand, you can't do it! If you give it time, she'll heal."

"Gangrenous cells spread to the rest of the body if untreated, if we find it we can't just leave it."

"I'm telling you, she's not normal, she'll heal it if you give it time!"

"Nobody recovers once a limb has gone gangrenous, I'm sorry. Hopefully there hasn't been any damage."

"Now, wait--!"

"You have to leave, now. Nurse!"

A loud shrill noise felt like a cold dagger in Shego's ear, but it rapidly faded, as did the voices.

"She's going into cardiac arrest! Get the defibrillators..."

----

Lily turned on her bed and opened her eyes, squinting slightly at the dawn light pouring in through a crack in the curtains covering the window. She rubbed her eyes and looked around. Melvin was sleeping soundly, as he always did with his blindfold and ear mufflers under his comforter, but Raymond was apparently up, his bed empty with the covers crumpled to the side.

Lily got up out of bed and felt the slight chill of the December morning on her exposed feet and arms. She quickly ran to the closet and pulled out a sweater, in green, her favorite color of course, and some blue jeans to pull on. A pair of slip on shoes warmed her feet and felt comfortable enough to go downstairs. She grabbed her brush off the dresser as she left the room and began pulling it through her long dark hair.

Downstairs she found the kitchen and den empty, surprising for a Sunday. She checked the garage and saw the cars were gone and she figured her parents had gone out to church and mosque. They had stopping taking their children along once they reached adolescence and with the twins turning thirteen this year, they had the tendency to simply slip out at different times to practice their faith. Lily hadn't gone with either of them since turning thirteen, though her older brother had more or less joined their mother's church. She wondered if that was where Raymond was right now.

A sudden crack followed by a muffled clattering caught Lily's attention and she turned towards the back of the house. It sounded like something splintering, a sound she didn't exactly associate with great memories. She walked to the back door and looked out into the yard seeing the wreckage of the old tree house, the dirt covered yard that had yet to grow back with grass, the tall, old oak that proved neigh invulnerable, and Raymond. She opened the door.

"Ray!" yelled Lily as she walked up. "What's going on? It sounds like you're breaking bones out here." Ray was pulling apart pieces of the wrecked tree house and stacking them neatly beside the tree.

"'Morning sis," said Ray, wiping his brow. There was no sweat there as he could probably lift a house now without struggling, but he was aware of the dramatic conventions. "I was just cleaning up back here, seeing what can be salvaged."

Lily looked skeptically at the pile of lumber. "Out of that old thing? You'd have better luck making new boards out of the tree."

Ray turned to look at the oak. "You think I could do that?" he asked, whimsically. "I broke the ripsaw trying to cut through a tree, but maybe if I had something like an oversized cleaver I might have better luck."

Lily shook her head. "It was a euphemism, He-man, tone it down a bit."

"Do you think you could cut accurately with your plasma?" asked Ray.

"Fire. It's fire," said Lily.

"Okay, but could it cut long boards?"

"I don't know," shrugged Lily, annoyed. "I really don't care."

"What do you think would happen if you hit someone with your plasma?" pressed Ray.

Lily grit her teeth and her hands instinctively burst into green flame. "It's _fire_, you dumb ox," she said. "And I can test it out on you if you keep asking stupid questions!"

"No, I wouldn't be a good test," Ray shook his head, still staring at the tree. "I mean someone normal."

"What. The. Hell. Ray?" Lily stressed.

Ray turned to look at Lily. "Don't you wonder about that meteor?"

Lily breathed slowly, trying to calm herself. Ray frequently hit all her buttons and it had been that way since they were little. "What do you mean, 'do I wonder about the meteor?' Do I think about the god damn space rock that turned my skin sickly green? What the hell do you think?"

"What if there was a purpose?" said Ray. "Maybe we're supposed to do something with these gifts."

"Feh, _gifts_," Lily rolled her eyes. "It was a fluke, Ray. A fluke it hit us and a fluke we survived."

"And a fluke it gave us special powers that make us better than everyone else?" Ray frowned. "That's a lot of flukes right on top of each other. You gotta wonder if there is something else at work."

"No, you don't 'gotta.'" Lily managed to calm the flames encircling her fists and then crossed her arms. "Nobody gave us anything. We don't owe anybody anything."

"What are you going to do then?" asked Ray.

"Going to do? I'm going to finish High School and go to college," said Lily, plainly. Then she grumbled, staring at her green hands. "And probably single handedly support several makeup companies."

"I mean, what do you want to do about your gifts?"

"Why do I have to do anything?" asked Lily. "I'll buy fireproof linens I guess."

"Lily, this is a huge opportunity," said Ray. "With these gifts we could change the world."

"Oh, god, not this again," Lily rolled her eyes. "I didn't actually mean to imply you actually _were_ He-man."

"Well, why not?" asked Ray. "Why cover it up? Why not go out and make a name for ourselves. Make the world a safer place. Get people to look at us with envy instead of pity."

"Envy, huh? A little shallow for hero, don't you think?" said Lily.

"Really? So... um, not envy, then, but admiration?"

"See, I don't think you're cut out for this," said Lily. She sighed. "Whatever 'this' is."

"It's our calling, sis," said Ray. "We were given these powers for a purpose and it's our responsibility to use them. We could be a family of superheroes!"

"Please, Ray, this is silly," said Lily. "We're not 'super heroes,' we're barely old enough to vote. Would you have Wesley and Wilbur join your team too? Thirteen year olds in constant danger? It's ludicrous."

Ray turned and looked at Lily with an surprisingly sincere expression, one she'd seen maybe less than a half-dozen times in her entire life. She was momentarily stunned.

"Of course it's dangerous," said Ray, quietly. "Of course it's crazy. Every change in the course of history started off that way. But, what made those things 'historic' instead of forgotten is that they pushed ahead anyway. They kept fighting until they were recognized, and the world became better for it. We have the power to do that, Lily, how can we ignore it?"

Lily shook her head slightly and looked down. "Ray..."

"I'm not going to amount to anything else otherwise," he said suddenly. "You're smart, and witty, and barring the green skin, quite attractive. You may have lots of options but me... I'm..." Ray struggled for the words. "I'm not that talented or smart."

"How long have you been thinking about this?" asked Lily. "I mean, for real."

Ray looked up. "Since about the start of the semester. I'm... I didn't do very well in my classes."

"Ah, geeze," Lily made a pained face. "You told mom and dad things were fine! You don't _me_ things were fine! What the hell happened?"

"I'm just not cut out for college, okay?" said Ray. "It's not my thing."

"You're _thing_?" scoffed Lily. "Ray, there's this other _thing_ called 'entry level requirements!' It doesn't matter if it's your thing, you gotta get a degree or you're never going to get a job better than managing a fast food restaurant!"

"That's why I need a better option, 'Lil," Ray said. "Something I'm _already_ qualified for. But I can't do it alone."

"Yeah, and what about me, Ray? What if I wanted to go to college and have a life?"

"You can still do that! We'd just have... you know, secret identities!"

Lily put a hand to her forehead. "Oh, this is getting worse by the second."

"We can do this," said Ray. "I may not... have all this book stuff down, but you do! Together we'd make a perfect team. A family of heroes!"

"Enough with these catchphrases, Ray!" said Lily. "And stop with the 'family of' stuff. I don't care what lunacy you eventually talk me into, you will not involve Melvin and the twins in this!"

"But—"

"No buts!" Lily said forcefully. "They're kids, Ray. Kids who have no business risking their lives. God, mom would have a coronary if you even suggested it."

"She's not so against the idea..." Ray said quietly.

Lily glared at him. "I'm taking that to mean you've actually talked to mom about this stupid idea."

"Maybe."

"Ray!"

"Sis, I don't want anyone to get hurt but—"

"Then don't get them involved," Lily cut him off. "If, and I do mean a gigantic 'IF,' we do this it does not involve Melvin or the twins or I'm out. I'm not letting you risk their lives. You have to promise me you won't get them involved."

Ray grumbled something inaudible. "Fine," he finally said.

Shego rubbed her temple and softly growled. "I can't believe I'm thinking about this. I can't possibly be the 'smart one' in the family when I keep getting talked into crap by YOU, the king of obvious passive aggressiveness."

"Sis..."

"No talky now, I'm thinking," Lily snapped. She walked over to the stack of lumber and sat, propping up her chin on her fist. "You'd need some sort of training regimen," she said after a minute. "And some way of protecting our identity."

"Like a hideout and a mask?" offered Ray, his eyes glistening.

Lily blinked, repulsed by Ray's obvious excitement. "I'm going to hate every minute of this," she concluded. "I can already see it now. Mom should have named me Cassandra."

"Cassan... what?" asked Ray.

"She's a greek... it doesn't matter," Lily shook her head.

"What about a team name?" said Ray. "I was thinking 'The Family From Go.'"

"No family stuff, I told you already," said Lily, angrily.

"The Siblings From Go?" offered Ray.

"You're a moron, I'm sure of it," concluded Lily. "Why so wordy? Keep it brief, like Team Meteor or something."

"Team Go," nodded Ray.

"No. First, people are going to think we're a basketball team," said Lily. "And second, it's stupid."

---

"Go, Team Go!" Hego yelled out as they leapt from the Go Car and chased after Eye-Finity, the spectacles wearing hypnotist, currently escaping into the alleys behind the Go City Bank. The team of five ran full out, Hego in the lead, followd by Shego, Mego, and the twin Wegos, as traffic stopped to make way for the city's legendary heroes.

Mego pressed to catch up to Hego and gently grabbed his arm. "Gimme a boost, Hego!" he yelled.

Hego reached to grab Mego's arm which immediately shrank into his palm. With a slight wind up, he threw Mego as hard as he could at the escaping villain. As Mego sailed overhead, he grew back to his normal size and then tackled Eye-Finity to the ground causing his bag of money to hit the ground and burst open.

The rest of Team Go then caught up and Hego quickly grabbed the villain forcefully by the arms and restrained him. "You're Go-rabbed, Eye-Finity!" he announced as he began to bind the villain's arms.

"That's terrible," said Mego as he dusted himself off. "'Go-rabbed'?"

"He has a bad name," said Hego. "There isn't much to work with."

"It doesn't take an Eye-nstien to come up with something better than that," said one of the Wegos.

"Though it may require a slightly higher Eye-Q," said the other.

"Please, lock me up already!" Eye-Finity suddenly yelled. "Anything to avoid listening to more of this!"

Shego finished gathering the money back into the bag and walked over to Eye-Finity and took his arm. "It'd be my pleasure," she said dryly while dragging him towards the approaching police.

"How do you put up with that?" asked Eye-Finity once they were out of earshot of the rest of Team Go.

"Practice, mostly," Shego replied. "Lots of practice."

"They should have to have to get a permit to tell those puns," continued Eye-Finity. "And get them registered as dangerous weapons."

Shego laughed as she considered the humor of Hego being arrested for unlicensed use of a deadly pun.

"Hey, hang on for a second," Eye-Finity said and stopped walking. Shego was forced to stop as well when she felt the resistence on his arm. She turned to see what was up and found Eye-Finity staring directly into her eyes.

"Yes, look into my eyes!" Eye-Finity said, his glasses glowing an unusual color. "Listen to my words as you find yourself sinking deeper and deeper in a heavy fog that just settled behind your eyes. Listen to my voice as you lose yourself in that–" He was interrupted by Shego pulling his glasses off his face, crushing them in her hand, then kindly shoving the broken pits into his front pocket.

"You're a terrible hypnotist, you know that right?" said Shego, her eyebrows raised.

Eye-Finity sighed and hung his head. "Yes," he said reluctantly.

"Come on," Shego pulled on the villain's arm and they walked the rest of the way back to where the police were.

"Thank you, ma'am," nodded the police office she handed Eye-Finity off to.

"Whatever," said Shego, turning to go back to the rest of the 'team.' This whole crime fighting thing had long since begun to drag on her and reached full annoyance level. She only hoped that when she got back to Hego he hadn't already managed to...

Shego turned a corner and saw Team Go, her family, standing before some reporters. Hego had on his standard vapid grin as he no doubt publicly inflated his role in today's capture. Each step she took closer made her a little bit more angry.

"Well, we excel in what I like to call, 'Go-operation,'" said Hego to the reporters. "A synergy between us that allows us to work smoothly together and form a bond that is much like family."

"Feh," Shego scoffed to herself. 'Like' family was the way Hego made it obvious that they were an actual family since he never shut up about the closeness of their team. The truth, of course, was that as soon as the cameras were off of him, Hego was bull-headed, ignorant, and completely uninterested in anyone else's strategies for the team. He apparently had some other definition of the word 'synergy' that Shego was unfamiliar with.

"Fortunately the model I developed charting Eye-Finity's latest crime spree enabled us to predict his next target and get there within moments of the crime taking place. Thanks to that we were able to put an end to Eye-Finity's three week reign of terror."

Shego grit her teeth and balled her hands into fists. He was doing it again. He was taking credit for everything. It wasn't his model, it was HER'S that predicted where Eye-Finity would go next. And even that wasn't enough to interest him in some pre-emptive monitoring she had to convince Mego and the twins that her model was accurate before Hego would agree to even get into costume when there wasn't a crime actually in progress. Of course, getting Mego and the Wegos on her side took even more cajoling as Mego didn't accept any model unless he was able to correct it and make it 'better,' and pulling the Wegos away from their 'girl watching' at the mall required way more arguing and promises to report them to mom than should ever be necessary for a team that is so much like 'family' it bears repeating at every damn press conference!

"ARGGG!" Shego growled loudly, suddenly grabbing the attention of not only the rest of her family but the reporters as well. Team Go looked at her like she'd just spun her head and the reporters' news radar immediately attracted them to what appeared to be a new story currently developing.

"Ah, uh, don't mind Shego," Hego quickly ran to get in front of the reporters before they could converge on his sister. "She's just having... uh, a headache, that she's had for a ... um, while now due to... her... uh... cramps?"

Shego's eyes nearly fell out of her skull from the force of her head whipping around to glare at Hego. The reporters were momentarily baffled, not having as much experience in Hegoese, and Mego took the opportunity to avert disastrous damage to his reputation.

"Well, that's all for today," Mego quickly called out as he grabbed Hego and Shego by the arms. "There are other crimes afoot and we can't find them here!" He pulled his siblings towards the Go Car as quickly as he could and then quickly ushered them inside. The Wegos only managed to hop in moments before it pealed away from the bank.

---

"I can't believe you!" Shego yelled at Hego after they had gotten back to Go Tower. They were standing in the command center by the color-coordinated circular table.

"A positive relationship with the press will only make things better for us, sis," explained Hego. It was a stock explanation he used every time he did something stupid in front of a camera and Shego was quite sick of it.

"Don't give me that crap!" Shego yelled. "A positive relationship is lying? Embellishing all of our successes? Telling them _you_ come up with all of _my_ ideas?"

"It makes a better story to know our team has a strong leader," said Hego. "The people can trust us more. Rely on us."

"Then what?" asked Shego. "Then they can be tragically stricken when they find out you're a complete moron?"

"I'm not stupid," insisted Hego. "Just because I don't know calculus or physics doesn't mean I'm so very inferior to you!"

"No, it's because you don't know what _teamwork_ is, or how to execute a _plan_, or have any idea what the hell a _promise_ is!"

"I have upheld my promises to the people," said Hego. "We promised to be there for them and we have never turned away from their cries. The people recognize that! That's why they call us family, that's why the police trust us, that's why there's a Team Go Day in March!"

"Dammit, Hego, what about your promises to me!?" Shego said angrily. "What about the needs of your _real_ family?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Hego, considering the accusation absurd. He was the very model of a caring elder brother and would gladly risk his life to save theirs.

"You promised me you wouldn't get Melvin, Westley, and Wilbur involved!" said Shego. "You promised me they wouldn't risk their lives because YOUR lunatic need to get 'face time' with the press!"

"They asked to be part of the team!" said Hego. "They wanted this, just like I did!"

"That was never part of the agreement! I didn't care if they wanted to be heroes. I didn't care if they begged at your feet and snuck into the Go Car! You were supposed to say no! All I wanted was to keep them out of this!"

"But they asked! They were going to get involved no matter what I said! What could I have done?"

"You could have at least _tried_ to talk them out of it!" yelled Shego. "But, no, there's always an exception to every rule. Every fat promise that comes out of your lips has a big old unspoken exception attached."

"Well, I don't see what your problem is," Hego yelled back. "They're happy as part of the team! They haven't gotten hurt, they're fine! You're the only one who's grumpy all the time. You brood more than Cold Shoulder after a hockey game!"

"Because I NEVER WANTED THIS!" Shego waved a flaming finger in Hego's face while her face was screwed up in the angriest scowl she'd ever mustered. "I did this because I was being the loving sibling to YOU! _You_ were the delusional one! And you sucked our precious brothers into your fantasy. And now everything I've done to protect you and this family has turned sour. What was the point? Why did you need me involved in this stupid idea?"

Hego's looked stricken at Shego's words, but angry fire thrower continued on regardless.

"I'll tell you why you needed me," she said, poking Hego repeatedly in the chest leaving charred bits of his costume behind her flaming finger. "Because you can't tie your shoes without help and you... you KNEW it. You wanted this and you _used_ me to get it. You didn't even care about me or what I wanted." She paused her finger mid-poke then curled it into a fist and shook it in front of her face. "Well, you know what, I'm _used up_. There's nothing left for you to bleed."

Hego's mouth hung slightly open. "What... do you mean?"

Shego stared at Hego, her mouth a thin line and her brow furrowed. "I mean I'm done. I'm out. I'm finished." She turned and walked out of the command center. "Find someone else to _use_."

---

Shego packed her things into a small duffle bag in her small, dingy apartment in the east side of Go City. There wasn't much she needed to take with her save for a few changes of clothes, her hair dryer and makeup, and maybe a few keepsakes of her family. Nothing of Hego, of course, but she still cared for her younger brothers. They wouldn't understand her leaving or what would happen next, but there was little she could do about that. As for her parents... Dad would understand eventually, Mom probably would never. She could do little about that as well. Living for the needs of others had taken everything from her and she could do it no longer.

Shego dropped her bag on the kitchen counter and looked around her apartment. It was cramped, and filled with second hand furniture that didn't match. Her view out the window was of another wall less than three feet away. And there was a strange smell that not all the candles and potpourri in the world seemed to be able to squash. This was the real unspoken cost of her 'agreement' with Hego.

She never got to finish college, there was no way she could with the random schedule she had to keep, always ducking out at a moment's notice to deal with some criminal. The first time she did that to any professor during a test they were often lenient, but by they sixth, they refused to listen to her excuses. Not that they were much more than lies, anyway. The whole point of going to college was so she could maintain a normal life apart from the super hero nonsense Hego espoused, she couldn't very well tell her teacher she had to leave because HellPike was attacking an armored car.

But since she dropped out of college she couldn't get a very decent job. Wage work was alright for a while, but eventually she ran into the same schedule problems she had with school. At the burger place they'd expect a cashier to dodge work occasionally, but Shego pushed it further than even they were willing. So she had to bounce between jobs frequently, adding more irregularity to her schedule and even more inconsistent money coming in to pay her rent.

Moving to Go Tower had always been an option in her family's eyes, but it betrayed the whole point. She wanted the option to be normal, but every scraped together rent check made it more obvious to her. She couldn't have normal, she couldn't be normal. She had green skin. She could throw fire. She was a freak and freaks don't get to be normal. They get whatever they can take from others and they should be happy with it.

After that realization, it really made her decision all that much easier.

There was a knock at the door. Shego checked her watch and noted that her guest was almost perfectly on time, something she hadn't expected. She went to the door an opened it. Outside was a man in a fedora and sunglasses, wearing a long, ill-fitting, trench coat and carrying a large duffle bag. Shego had to keep herself from laughing.

"Come on in, Mr. Eye-cognito," she said with a wry smile.

"Ha. Ha," Eye-Finity said dryly and quickly shuffled into the apartment. Shego closed the door behind him. The villain took off his hat and eyeglasses and stood nervously.

"Well?" said Shego, expectantly.

Eye-Finity dropped the bag at Shego's feet and gestured at it limply. "It's all in there," he said with a sigh. "Everything from the robberies."

Shego bent down and opened the bag, revealing stacks of wrapped cash inside. She idly rummaged through it, mentally tallying up the amount before nodding to herself, closing the bag, and placing it next to her clothes bag. "Looks good," she said, straightening.

"Great," said Eye-Finity. "Can I have it now? The police might track me here so I need to keep moving."

"As long as you got out before you got processed, you'll be fine," Shego smirked, then reached into her pocket, pulling out a roll of film. She put it in the trench coated man's hand. "That's everything you need to know. Pictures of schematics, security cameras, guard rotations, everything. You'll be in an out like a ghost and nobody will know until they count the till the next day."

"Fine," said the man, shoving the roll into his pocket. He held out his hand again. "And the... uh... 'other' pictures?"

Shego blinked, then nodded. "Oh, right, yeah, those," she said. Then she laughed. "Yeah, there were no pictures, I was lying."

"W-what?" asked Eye-Finity.

"Yeah, I was just guessing about you cheating on your wife," said Shego. "I really don't know you from Adam. Though with all the blathering you do about being an orphan child with nobody to call their own so you're out to get revenge on a cold society that abandoned you, it was practically screaming reverse psychology."

"But..." Eye-Finity flailed for words. "You knew where I lived."

"That's just because you're a lousy criminal," said Shego. "Always robbing banks on the opposite side of the city from where you live, even when there are much better targets nearer to your house. Simple deduction got me to the vicinity and cold reading helped me the rest of the way." She sighed. "Listen, take my advice, give up the villainy. You're terrible at it."

Eye-Finity looked wide eyed at Shego, as if unsure what to believe in anymore.

"Here," Shego said, reaching into the bag and pulling out a bundle of bills. She put it in his hand. "Take this and move your family away from here where the cops won't find you. Invest in Google or something. I don't know."

"It's not..." started Eye-Finity, but Shego began pushing him towards the door, interrupting him.

"I know it's not the haul you expected when you started this, but it's enough to get out of dodge. Try that hypnosis trick overseas, I'm sure they'll love it." She pushed him gently out the door. "Have a nice life."

"I—" started Eye-Finity but Shego closed the door on him. She went back to the bags on the counter and quickly separated the money between the two bags, wrapping the bundles in clothes and burying them beneath toiletries and makeup. Then she zipped up both bags, grabbed her coat, and headed for the door.

She descended the stairs from her apartment for the last time and left out the front door, tossing her key in her mailbox on the way out. As she headed for the bus stop she passed an electronics store that had a mosaic of televisions in the window all showing the news. There was a report on the escape of Eye-Finity from police custody earlier this evening, which lead directly into a report that the money recovered from the arrest of Eye-Finity at this afternoon's robbery of Go City Bank was apparently fake and questions where the real money went. The report said the police would be looking into its officers, workers at the bank, and possibly Team Go as part of their investigation.

Shego smiled as she turned towards the approaching bus. She was going to live for herself now, which meant taking what she wanted and pushing down anyone who got in her way.

Even family.

With a spring in her step, she got onto the number 3561 bus heading towards Middleton.

---

A soft, repeating beat was the first thing Shego heard as she regained consciousness. Even though she was just getting up she felt incredibly tired, like she had just run a marathon and her muscles were dead. She slowly tried to open her eyes but shut them immediately as the bright light nearly blinded her.

"Unng," she moaned slightly trying to build up the courage to try and open her eyes again.

"Sis?"

Shego was surprised to hear the voice but could hardly move to react. She slowly managed to turn her head and tried opening her eyes again. All she saw were blurs at first but eventually they focused to show a white bed with a grey curtain around it, a simple padded chair beside the bed, and Hego sitting in the chair.

"'ego," Shego said, struggling with her dry throat. She tried to swallow a couple times but found her mouth impossibly dry. Hego stood and took a water bottle to Shego's lips.

"Drink," he said softly. "It's water."

Shego sucked on the straw and felt the cool water flow down her throat. After a few sips, she opened her mouth and Hego pulled the bottle away.

Shego licked her lips with her now-moist tongue and tried again. "Hego," she said, much more clearly. "What happened?"

"You fought with Cold Stare," said Hego, continuing to use a soft voice. "Or whatever thing he'd become. He froze you most of the ways into a block of ice and you ended up with hypothermia."

Shego slowly processed that and agreed it matched with her memories. She looked around and saw the machine with wires attached to her chest. "Hospital?" she asked.

Hego nodded. "Yeah. You were bad shape and the doctors didn't think you'd pull through with all your limbs."

Shego blinked slowly and looked down. She raised her arm into her field of vision and slowly flexed her fingers, feeling the ache in her joints.

"I had more confidence in you," Hego said with a small smile.

"Cold Stare?" asked Shego.

Hego looked down for a moment. "He's a puddle, I guess. There was nothing human of him left to save."

Shego nodded as best she could, but she disagreed with Hego's conclusion. Cold Stare was human enough to know he didn't want to keep living with what he'd become. Shego felt like she could sympathize, though she wasn't quite sure why.

"Sis," Hego said almost inaudibly. Shego turned her eyes towards him and acknowledged it as best she could. "I'm... sorry."

Shego frowned. "Why?" she asked.

"You were... right, when we were younger," he said, pausing like each word was painful to say. "When we were still a team."

Hego breathed slowly and moved his chair closer to Shego's bed. "I didn't... really understand what you wanted. I just thought that you were like me and were just hiding it to be stubborn. I didn't want to believe you were different." He cast his eyes down. "I didn't care if you were."

"I did use you," he continued while staring at the floor. "I used everyone to get what I wanted and I didn't even recognize it. It just never occurred to me that I didn't really know you until... until..."

Hego sniffled and Shego realized he was crying. "I saw you there... in the hospital. An-and the doctors were cutting you open and said you were dying and I-I'd never talk to you ever again. And I'd sent everyone away to look for Cold Stare so I was the only one who... and I just couldn't stop telling them to leave your arms alone because you'd heal, that the meteor would keep you alive and... that was the _only thing I knew about you _and that was only because all of us are that way and..." he choked up. "A-and... and..."

Shego watched as her big brother, the world's most prominent macho man and tough guy, sob uncontrollably beside her hospital bed. She wasn't sure what to do. There was absolutely nothing that had occurred between them that had even come close to what was happening now and she had no reference to act from.

So she reached out and gently patted her brother on the head. "Shh," she quietly whispered.

Hego rubbed his eyes as he tried to control his cying. "I'm sorry," he said between sobs. Then he said it again. And again.

"Shhh," Shego repeated. "It's okay." She suddenly felt a wave of guilt wash over her and it struck her hard in the gut. She wanted to forgive him, because it seemed like that what he needed, but she didn't feel worthy. She didn't feel like she had the right to forgive him. She'd hated the way he acted towards her, but she had done everything in her power to hide how she'd really felt back then until it had all exploded the day she left. He could have been more receptive to her, but she could have spoken up long before it drove her away. They were both guilty in a way. Did her silence match his stubbornness? She wasn't sure, but she was sure that they had a lot to work out.

"It's okay," she said again. "We're both idiots."

That was the best she felt she could offer. But in the back of her mind, another familiar voice began speaking up again. She had no idea Hego was suddenly going to realize he needed to change today. So why had she decided to come back to Team Go after long ago deciding to leave these fools to their fates?

Just who was she now?

There was no answer apparent in Hego's sobs, but Shego continued to softly pat his head anyway.

----

Author's Note: This is about as angst-y as we're gonna get in this tale, but I'm sorry for surprising you all with it. This is the third backstory I've written for Shego and Team Go, which makes it hard to not simply repeat what I've done before. Hopefully this is something unique.

There's a nod towards Walking The Line in here somewhere, but I won't say where. If you haven't read any of StarvingLunatic's KP works, then you probably should.

Next week: Christmas! Who shall we celebrate it with? Kim or Shego?


	8. Holiday Parties

8. Holiday Parties

---

The flight had been long. Agailia had not been too pleased about that. It was only three hours, but when you're wedged between a rotund man with poor hygiene and the tendency to be flatulent and the oversized beast that was her husband, those three hours can feel like seven years. The plane itself, she was convinced, was intended for a full compliment people maybe about her size -- a tallish five foot nine at an athletic hundred and eighty-five pounds -- or perhaps a bit smaller. So every six foot muscleman and five foot jellyroll was taking up space the plane wasn't designed to give you. No amount of gingerbread biscuit or half-can of Diet Pepsi was going make that trip any easier to endure.

Then there was the business with the rental car. She loved Fadi, her husband, very dearly, but he was the most stubborn person the world had conspired to create. The website had clearly said that they would be receiving a Cadillac DeVille, which was the whole reason Fadi has chosen this discount car rental agency, but when they arrived they had been treated with a Ford 300. Now, Agailia, feeling accomplished that she had managed to extract herself from the tiny airplane without usage of a sardine knife, was more than happy to take the large sedan because she would have A.) arm room, and B.) the ability to recline more than six degrees. But that would not do for Fadi, who marched right back to confront the vehicle attendant and demand the car he reserved and had intended to pay for.

Since the attendant did not have the authority to do much more than dispense keys and vacuum carpets, the argument quickly involved calling a manager down. That was when, in Agailia's opinion, the argument really came to life. What began with statements concerning size and prestige of the vehicle turned into comments about the pedigree of the manager's mother and likenesses between Fadi and an Islamic terrorist.

Coolers heads then prevailed when Agailia stepped in, slapped the back of her husband's head, then agreed with the manager to take the car as is in exchange for a minor discount off the daily price. The manager, nearly volcanic from Fadi's verbal jabs, seemed to consider refusing Agailia's offer before she pointed out that her husband's massive arms didn't get that way from playing shuffleboard.

Transportation matters resolved, Agailia settled herself quickly in the passenger side of the car and planned on taking a brief nap while her husband drove them. That lasted about six minutes whereupon they ran into bumper to bumper traffic that frayed her husband's already hair thin nerves. A Chinese fire drill later and Agailia was now doing the driving, or rather sitting, in traffic for the remainder of the fifteen mile journey. That ate up about four hours.

Of course, their children being who they were, the drive was not the last leg of their journey. After making it to the harbor, the husband and wife quickly unloaded their car and carried their belongings onto a nearby boat that had been chartered for them. The weather had only recently been getting back to normal, to which they were thankful for, but it was still late December, meaning the bay was choppy and the boat would be slow and unsteady.

Once reaching the shore, the couple stepped off the boat and kindly tipped the driver who helped them with their bags. It had been an arduous journey to the city and perhaps an even more trying one to the home of their children, but at least they had reached them and would soon be indoors, resting in the warm confines of their... 'home.' Agailia pressed the button beside the door inset into the stone foundation of the giant "G."

After a moment – the children always took forever to answer the door – the door opened and a pale woman with long black hair answered. She was thin yet curvaceous, dressed in dark pants with a green sweater top. Her face was smooth and seemingly content until she looked upon the people at her doorstep and expression was quickly banished in favor of irritation. Based on how quickly she was able to change, Agailia figured the woman was an expert at it.

"Hi, sweetie!" said Agailia as she made a big smile.

"Damn," Shego replied. "It's you."

---

On the counter of the Possible home, laid a mostly silent blue brick made of plastic and glass showing a mostly black screen and a few simple buttons beneath it. The brick was worn, covered with scratches and scrapes proclaiming a history of use and abuse, but now sat mostly still on a counter where most people would mostly stare at it longingly but never touch.

But because it was 'mostly' that way, and not always, there was the rare occasion where it made noise, vibrated, and was picked up and played with in willful abandon.

An occasion like now.

"I think I know where she is," said Wade through the screen of the Kimmunicator while the Possible family huddled around. "Though I'm not quite sure what to make of it."

"Where?" asked Mrs. Dr. Possible urgently, who felt waiting through Wade's second sentence took eternity.

"Britain," said Wade, replacing his face with a map on the Kimmunicator screen. "Specifically, Tyne and Wear in Northern England. There's a region I've narrowed her down with satellite imagery but given what's in that area, it's pretty obvious where she is."

"Where?" said Mrs. Dr. Possible again, uninterested in the details and hoping for a more direct answer.

"Monkey Fist's castle," said Wade. "Or rather, Monty Fiske's castle. He hadn't been using it in quite some time before now."

"She's with one of her enemies?" asked Mr. Dr. Possible. "A boy?"

Wade hedged slightly. "I wouldn't really consider Monkey Fist a 'boy' by any reckoning, but, yes, he's male."

"I don't like the sound of this," said Mr. Dr. Possible. "I hope Ronald is okay."

"He is," said Wade, promptly. "I found all three of them, Kim, Ron, and Monkey Fist, traveling to the area."

"Recently?" asked Mrs. Dr. Possible. "She left almost two months ago."

"I picked them up recently, but I don't know how long they've been there," said Wade. "I found them based on reports of someone breaking into Professor Dementor's castle. From there I found them flying to England, but going back a few days there's some pretty convincing information that they left from there."

"I'm confused, they're going after Kimmie's enemies while traveling with her enemies?" asked Mr. Dr. Possible.

"I can't say what their intentions were, but I can say this: both Monkey Fist and Professor Dementor were at Jack Hench's Halloween party. If they were hit by the same thing that Kim was, then who knows what they're after now."

Mrs. Dr. Possible stood up and nodded defiantly. "Wade," she said with confidence. "Get me a flight to Britain."

"Uh," said Wade, wide-eyed. "S-sure, I guess."

"Honey," said Mr. Dr. Possible, uneasily getting up to follow his wife who was already heading towards the bedroom. "Don't you think this sort of thing should be left to the professionals?"

In their bedroom, Mrs. Dr. Possible went right to the closet and pulled out a bag and began stuffing it with clothes. "I am a professional, dear."

"A professional surgeon," pointed out Mr. Dr. Possible. "I don't know if that necessarily prepares you for globetrotting."

"Cheerleading doesn't prepare you for it either," said Mrs. Dr. Possible, flatly. She threw a smaller bag into the larger one and then began zipping it up. It had barely a few days worth of clothes in it. "I've gone with Kim on one of her missions before, I know what I'm getting into."

"You're prepared to fight Kimmie if she really has turned evil?"

Mrs. Dr. Possible froze as she considered the implications. It really only took a second. "She's my daughter, I have to do something."

Mr. Dr. Possible put his hand gently on his wife's shoulder. "She's _our_ daughter, dear." Then he unzipped the bag and shoved one of his labcoats inside, closing it afterwards. "We'll do it together."

Mrs. Dr. Possible made a small smile then hugged her husband tightly. They embraced for several seconds before she spoke softly. "Is that really all you're going to pack?"

"I've never seen Ronald take much more than Rufus with him," commented Mr. Dr. Possible softly.

"That's really going to be your role model? Ron Stoppable?" teased Mrs. Dr. Possible.

"Ahem," Mr. Dr. Possible cleared his throat. "Boo-yah."

---

"They live in a warehouse," said Fadi Kedar as he looked around Go Tower with his wife, mentally ticking off all the exposed wiring and improperly finished walls. "And a poorly built one at that."

"You know the place was farmed out to the lowest bidder, dear," Agailia said, patting her husband's arm hooked around her own. "You always complain about public buildings like this."

"Yes, I know, but the local fire department does not have a thousand tons of concrete above it in the shape of the letter 'G,'" replied Fadi. "A structurally unsound letter, I might add."

"Yes, dear," Agailia responded, rolling her eyes.

"Here you go," said Mego as he quickly ran up behind his parents on the third story walkway. He motioned to the doorway a few paces ahead that seemed just as nondescript as the three preceding it. "Um, it's been more or less set up for you."

"A bed would cover that, Mel," said Agailia. "You don't expect us to spend all our time locked up in our rooms, do you?"

"Er," started Mego, biting his lip. "Of course not... I guess. Just try to stay out of the command center. And the workout room. And Shego's room, apparently... but other than that, you can go anywhere!"

His mother rubbed his head with a smile. "Aww, that's cute. We can see ourselves around, if you need to go out."

"I'll be looking around to make sure whoever built this deathtrap didn't screw up in any meaningful way," said Fadi, gruffly.

"I'm sure he mean's deathtrap in a very affectionate way," added Agailia.

"Right, um, okay," nodded Mego, unsure of what he was agreeing with. "We don't exactly have a dining room so... we were thinking we'd go out for dinner?"

"Fine, we'll pay," said Fadi, now looking at the doorframe like it had just insulted his mother.

"No, that's not what I was..." Mego sighed. "Anyway, we're thinking of leaving around seven. That's when Hego gets back from work."

"We'll be ready," said Agailia. Mego hesitated for a moment then turned and headed down the stairs.

Once their son was out of earshot Fadi looked at his wife with a raised eyebrow. "Must you do that Susie Homemaker bit whenever we're around the kids?"

"It would blow their minds to know I know how to use the internet," said Agailia. "It's better to let some things go unsaid. Isn't that right, _Archie_ _Bunker_?"

Fadi shook his head and threw the bags into the assigned room. "Well, I'll go distract Melvin by trying to 'fix' something."

Agailia blinked and stared at her husband as he tried to move past her on the catwalk. "What? Why?"

Fadi turned and looked at her with an arched brow. "So you can talk to Lily in peace, of course. I know it's killing you not to rush over and do it right away, so why wait?"

"That's... right." Agailia leveled her eyes at her husband. "Fadi, you haven't been playing a role with _me_ all these years have you?"

"What's life without a little mystery?" Fadi cryptically replied with a smirk then headed down the stairs.

Agailia's jaw hung open for a second but she quickly recovered and filed that bit of information away for later investigation. She gave Fadi a few minutes to start his mischief and then headed down one flight to where her daughter's room was located. She softly knocked.

"Go away, mom," came the irate voice from inside.

"Now what are the chances of that happening, sweetie?" Agailia said through the door. "You're the whole reason we came up here."

A few seconds later the sound of a latch being thrown was heard and the door opened, revealing Shego's scowling face. It was no different than at the front door earlier. "You have _at least_ four other kids, all of whom live in the area if not here, and you only came to see me? That says a lot about your parenting skills, _mom_. Do you think you perhaps play favorites with one of the ones who want it? Like Mego or Hego?"

"Give a child what they want and they'll become spoiled," said Agailia in a cheerful tone.

"So you're shooting for resentful instead?" Shego cocked her head.

"Self-sufficient, but there is some wiggle room."

Shego frowned at her mother but when the elder woman didn't wither at her gaze, she turned and walked back to her bed leaving the door open. Agailia followed immediately afterwards and looked for a chair to sit in. There was none.

"Spartan, isn't it?"

"I travel light," shrugged Shego.

Agailia came over and sat beside her daughter on the bed and looked at her. It had been five years since she last saw her baby girl, five long years of hoping she didn't get herself killed acting out like she was, five years of hoping someday she would turn back and call her family again, five years ending in disappointment.

"Your brother said you had lightened up a bit," Agailia said in an airy voice.

"Towards him, I have," replied Shego.

"Lily—"

"Shego," the daughter interrupted. "My name is Shego. You can do it. Whenever you think of saying 'sweeite' just say Shego instead. It will work for you."

Agailia sighed. "You kids never learned humble, did you?"

"It's not something you were equipped to teach, mom," said Shego with a sneer. "So don't beat yourself up over it."

"I gave everything I had to you and your brothers and encouraged you to see the world," said Agailia. "I don't see how I could have inspired such snippy-ness."

"You gave us everything after you had taken out your share," replied Shego. "And you didn't 'encourage' so much as push us out the door!"

"I never wanted you to leave," said Agailia, getting angry.

"No, but you never wanted us to stay either," Shego replied. "Everything good that happened always had that little caveat you had to remind us of. 'Good work, Lily, when you're on your own you'll be a great artist!' 'Oh, that's a great trophy Ray, you can put it on the wall of your own apartment someday!' 'Ah, Mel, with these grades you have no trouble finding you way on your own.' I'm surprised the twins are as sane as they are!"

"There were _five_ of you," insisted Agailia. "You had to be independent because there simply wasn't enough of me and your father to go around."

"That doesn't mean we wanted to be reminded of it!" yelled Shego. "Why do you think they all still live together? They only ever felt they had each other, so of course they banded together."

"But not you," said Agailia. "You ran off and became a criminal, and framed your brothers in the wake!"

"Because I didn't want to be a mother to them!" said Shego. "The mother they didn't have in _YOU_!"

"So what did you do?" asked Agailia, leading Shego on. "You left them on their own and challenged their assumptions, forcing them to become something better." She put her hands on her hips. "I don't see how that is any different than what I was trying to do."

Shego raised a finger, ready to point accusingly at her mother but hesitated. She stared off slightly to the side as if thinking really hard, then her expression darkened, her brows furrowing and her frown etching deep groves on her face. She stared in what seemed to be barely contained rage.

"I _deeply_ regret ever doing that," she said in a menacingly slow manner. "But I never considered I had picked up that reaction from 'dear old mom.'"

Shego stood and pointed towards the door. "Get out!"

Agailia considered resisting but the look on her daughter's face was enough to know how such a battle would end and Agailia did not have the benefit of a meteor-augmented constitution. She folded her hands and quietly left the room.

---

Mr. and Mrs. Drs. Possible looked out of the low flying plane with not a small amount of anxiety. They were somewhere over Northern Britain, according to Wade, but Mr. Dr. Possible found it hard to be sure when everything looked like ants crawling over a gigantic grey map.

"I can't believe out daughter does this nearly every week," said Mr. Dr. Possible pulling his head in from the open door so he could hear himself speak.

The Kimmunicator being held in Mrs. Dr. Possible's vice-like grip was showing Wade's face as he watched on. "The jump zone is going to come up in about a minute."

"About?" asked Mr. Dr. Possible. "Shouldn't there be some precision to this? At the speed we're traveling a few seconds mistake could drop us miles off course."

"Parachuting isn't really an exact science when it comes to the jumping," said Wade. "It's more on the landing side, which is why you have handles to control your direction."

"It's okay, dear, Kimmie does it," said Mrs. Dr. Possible, still staring out of the plane. Her rigid stance and white knuckles betrayed her attempts at projecting calm.

"Kimmie can also do a somersault from standing with only three steps lead in," said Mr. Dr. Possible. "But I wouldn't try it."

"It's too late to back out now," nodded Mrs. Dr. Possible. She took the Kimmunicator and stuffed it into a pouch on the side of her backpack. "This is the fastest way to get to her."

Mr. Dr. Possible swallowed hard and tried not to faint. "Okay," he nodded. He was not as good as his wife at hiding his fear in situations that bothered him, but for all the protesting he had resigned himself to this long before they took off. This was his daughter they were talking about, and he would move mountains if necessary to be there for any member of his family. "When do we go, Wade?" he said.

"You should go now," Wade's voice came from the pouch in Mrs. Dr. Possible's bag. "Good luck!"

Mrs. Dr. Possible nodded and then moved to the edge of the door. The height was still dizzying and she was unsure she'd be able to steer her parachute at all let alone land nearby the castle they had seen on the map, but this was what she'd decided to do, so she did it.

The two parents fell through the air, holding their bodies out like they had been instructed to slow the descent, both terribly concerned that they would end up no more than smears on the lawn of some British lord, but both trying their best to choke that feeling back.

After they finished their measured counting down from twenty, they pulled their chutes and, to their great relief, their parachutes opened and slowed their fall considerably. Mrs. Dr. Possible looked down at the approaching earth beneath them and scanned around for the castle they were looking for. Looking towards the river Tyne she estimated the distances to the main roads then followed them with her eyes like driving directions until she got to the location where the castle was supposed to be. To her surprise, it had a white gravel driveway that intersected the dark country road making a pretty obvious "X" right in front of the castle. She pulled the cords on her parachute to head towards it.

A minute later, she landed on the gravel gently, pulling loose her parachute bag to release the pack upon touchdown. She had to jog several steps to slow her momentum, but she felt proud of herself for landing so gracefully.

Mr. Dr. Possible landed next with more of a bounce than a glide and was dragged by his parachute for a second before he was able to release it. He fell in a pile at the side of the drive and breathed heavily. Mrs. Dr. Possible ran over to him.

"Are you okay?" she asked, looking over his body for signs of injury. Aside from the heavy breathing, he seemed to be visibly alright. Of course, if he'd had a coronary in-flight it would be impossible to diagnose on sight.

"Fine," said Mr. Dr. Possible, slowly sitting up. "Just a little confusion as to which cord released the parachute. I'm sure Ron would have done better."

Mrs. Dr. Possible hugged her husband briefly then helped him up. She pulled out the Kimmunicator and held it out for them both to see. "Okay, Wade, we've landed."

Wade's face reappeared on the screen. "Looks good. By these GPS readings you should be right outside the castle."

"Yup, it's right ahead," said Mr. Dr. Possible. "What's next?"

"Based on the schematics I got of the castle, your best bet is to head to the east side," said Wade. His face was replaced with a map of the property and a line from where the Drs. Possible were standing to a window on the east side of the building. "You'll have to climb, but the second story window marked on the map will get you in with the least amount of commotion."

"Shouldn't we try knocking first?" asked Mr. Dr. Possible. "We might be misunderstanding something."

"I can't imagine what misunderstanding would involve Kim and Ron suddenly acting crazy and then globetrotting with Monkey Fist and Dementor," said Wade. "Unless it's some sort of elaborate double cross, or espionage work for GJ that I haven't been told of. If it is a deep cover operation, it'll be better for Kim if you assume the worst anyway, as it plays to the personality she'd been expressing." Wade's face reappeared on the screen with an expression of concern. "She's your daughter, so I'll leave it up to you to decide what's best."

"Thank you," said Mrs. Dr. Possible. She pocketed the device again and looked to her husband. "I think we should take Wade's route, we can always show ourselves later." Mr Dr. Possible considered that and then slowly nodded. "Ready?" asked Mrs. Dr. Possible after a second.

"To storm the castle?" asked Mr. Dr. Possible with a smirk. "You betcha."

Mrs. Dr. Possible took her husband's hand and they ran off towards the castle.

---

Fadi stood outside his daughter's room, the door closed and securely locked just inches from his nose. He was once a young father and was now on the far end of being a middle-aged one. In that time he had learned as many things from his children as they undoubtedly had learned from him, but the one lesson that stood out in his mind right now is that the single daughter in a family of four boys is bound to have bigger balls that the rest of the lot combined. So it was with trepidation that he rapped gently against the door one more time.

"Please open up, Pumpkin," he said, addressing his daughter as he always did when they were alone. It was his subtle attempt to assure her that he was on his own and not the decoy for his wife.

"I'm not in the mood, dad," came the muffled voice through the door.

"Well, sooner or later the inquisition will come," said Fadi. "Either your mother or Raymond will be at the head of it."

"They'd better be prepared to get burned," said Shego.

Fadi sighed and rested his forehead against the door. "Pumpkin, I don't know what happened between mom and you, but—"

"Then don't get involved," Shego cut him off. Her voice was louder, but Fadi couldn't tell if that was because she got closer to the door or raised her voice.

"She means well, even if it doesn't always come out," offered Fadi.

The sound of a latch being thrown was the only warning he had before the door swung open and Shego was almost literally in his face. She raised a sharp finger with a slightly glowing tip and wagged it accusingly in front of his face.

"You don't get to use that excuse to justify anything!" she shouted. "You can't sunder the world just because you think you have a better idea!"

Fadi raised his eyebrows but remained calm. He had worked on all manner of building at all possible heights. When you're standing three hundred feet up in the air on a widely spaced lattice of steel beams with only a thin nylon rope to keep you from becoming a splat on pavement you learn that even if Muhammad himself walked up to you, you remained calm. At those heights, people who can't remain calm lose their balance and people who lose their balance learn that gravity is terribly unforgiving.

"Oh, really?" said Fadi. "Isn't that what you had been doing up until recently?"

Shego narrowed her eyes and Fadi wondered if she was about to close the door again or perhaps vivisect him. Instead she sighed and put her hand on her hip. "You're just as guilty as she is, you know, for letting her do it." She turned and headed back into her room but left the door open. Fadi decided it was not an invitation but an admission of acceptance and entered the room.

"Is everyone going to come up here and hassle me?" asked Shego after Fadi finished fidgeting and sat down. "First mom, then Hego, now you? Who's next? The Wegos? Maybe my old English teacher from Silver Dove?"

"You're still here," pointed out Fadi.

"Is that your objective? Drive me away again?" asked Shego.

"Of course not," Fadi shook his head. "Look, I know you want to blame everything that happened on us but you must know by now we're all just guessing, trying to find what's best for ourselves and for you kids. Sometimes things don't work out like we plan."

"Or anywhere close," Shego said, snidely.

"We provided for you as best we could," continued Fadi. "I'm sorry that it didn't meet your standards. But look at yourself now, back in the Tower after five years of doing anything you wanted. Did you come back to tell us all how fantastic your life has been or maybe because you, like us and your brothers, made a few choices that took you somewhere you didn't want to go?"

Shego grumbled quietly but said nothing.

"You must be here for a reason, Pumpkin," said Fadi, reaching out and stroking his daughter's hair. "I'm sure you know that. I suspect there's someone you're waiting to talk to about your situation, but if it's not me, or your mother, or your brothers, then who are you waiting for?"

Again, Shego said nothing. Fadi wasn't entirely comfortable with that, but knew his daughter tended to play her thoughts close to her chest. He would have to give her the time she needed if she was going to respond at all. He patted her shoulder and stood again.

"I don't think it takes an extraordinary ability to see that your brothers desperately want to be part of your life again," he said, smiling warmly. "If they've been hesitant at all, I'm sure it's only because they don't want to be hurt again if you decide to leave once more."

Fadi waited for a sign of acknowledgement and then, receiving none, he walked out the door.

---

Mr. and Mrs. Drs. Possible crept as quietly as they could down the halls of the Fiske castle, but both could not shake the feeling of how odd the place seemed. There was little sign of life aside from the occasionally lit bulb and a distant sound of tapping in a rhythmic pattern coming from somewhere below. Their slow crawl through the halls was marked by the gentle click of their shoes against the hardwood floors.

Coming to the staircase leading down to the main floor, Mrs. Dr. Possible looked around the corner cautiously but like all the halls before it, it was empty save for a few sparsely placed lights. The rhythmic tapping continued, slightly louder, and definitely coming from even further below.

"Nobody," said Mrs. Dr. Possible, motioning with her head towards the stairs.

Mr. Dr. Possible stepped out and slowly moved with his wife down the stairs. "Do you think they're expecting us?" he posited.

Mrs. Dr. Possible shrugged. "They could have seen us drop, but why haven't they done anything yet? This is all very strange."

"I don't hear anyone else in the house," said Mr. Dr. Possible. "Maybe they're out."

"Something is making that noise," replied his wife. "Let's check it out."

The two scientists continued down to the main floor and began looking around before following the noise into the sublevels. They looked through the kitchen, entry hall, and a great hall with a gigantic fireplace filled with cold ash.

They were passing through a dining hall when Mrs. Dr. Possible caught the slight motion out of the corner of her eye. She immediately froze and her mind whirred frantically asking herself if she should stay still or dive to the floor to hide herself. Mr. Dr. Possible stopped mid-step behind her and waited, unsure what set his wife off but playing it safe until he was sure.

Mrs. Dr. Possible slowly turned her head towards the motion she saw earlier but was largely defeated by the darkness in the room. Her eyes were slowly adjusting to the light but all she could make out was the outline of a chair that seemed a little more irregular that the others in the room. She glanced back towards her husband who was staring back expectantly.

Carefully and slowly, Mrs. Dr. Possible motioned her head towards the source of her discomfort. They both then returned their eyes to the tall chair and waited for their eyes to resolve the figure. Slowly, but surely the dull light reflecting off a silver dish on the wall spilled across the chair illuminating the outline of the limbs of the figure sitting there. The chair was turned slightly away which meant he or she hadn't seen them yet but it meant Mrs. Dr. Possible couldn't get a good look of its occupant.

After a moment of trying to figure out what to do next, the figure moved again, stiffly, as if they had a significantly limited range of motion. But a secondary motion, sympathetic to the brief shimmy of the figure, was the ripple through a head of very long, thick hair cascading down the back of the figure.

It was all the evidence that Mrs. Dr. Possible required to fit the silhouette with the figure she had in her mind. "Kim?" she said, loudly breaking the fragile silence they had been operating under since entering the house.

The figure jerked suddenly, as if it had tried to turn its head but found itself limited by the chair it was in. Then there was a series of grunts and muffled sounds as the figure thrashed slightly and the chair it was in scrapped against the floor as it rocked.

"Kimmie!" Mrs. Dr. Possible said loudly, abandoning all hope at stealth, and began running around the long dining table towards the figure. Her husband followed close behind, both rapidly moving through the room. They got just into arms reach of the chair when suddenly the ground gave out underneath them and they found themselves in freefall.

The two scientists screamed in panic during the brief descent before striking a slide and continuing down at an angle. Mrs. Dr. Possible was further along the slide than her husband, which meant she saw the approaching end much sooner.

Stretching her arms and legs out, Mrs. Dr. Possible struggled to slow her slide, hoping to get enough traction to wedge herself in the path and avoid the undoubtedly long drop beyond the edge. Her exposed hands burned as her skin scraped against the edges of the slide but quickly began to slow her down. She felt as though her hands were going to rub clean off before she eventually slowed to a stop only inches from the end.

She breathed deeply and rapidly, her heart racing at the thought that she had only narrowly avoided destruction. She was lying sideways across the end of the slide and she turned herself slightly to peer over the edge and peek at what fate she might have avoided.

Below there was nothing but blackness and a sickening echo from her squeaks that spoke of great depths. She boggled at how someone could have created such a deep tunnel beneath a castle without violating its structural integrity. She was still trying to consider the possibilities such as deploying steel reinforcements supports when she heard the sliding of her husband rapidly approaching.

"Slow down!" she yelled out, knowing full well there was little chance he would hear or have enough time to react. She adjusted her grip on the edge of the slide and tried to plant her feet as best she could, hoping the rubber soles would grant her a miracle.

The sliding sound changed in pitch slightly, becoming deeper, as Mr. Dr. Possible undoubtedly tried to slow himself. It was, unfortunately, to no avail as he struck his wife with his body and they both started to fall over the edge. As their bodies rolled over the edge, only Mrs. Dr. Possible's tight grip kept them from falling, but left them dangling from the end.

"HELP!" Mrs. Dr. Possible yelled as she tried to adjust her grip on the slide without causing her husband, clinging to her leg, to fall. The strain was incredible and she felt her muscles burn under the effort.

"HEEEELP!" the two scientists said in unison, hoping someone, anyone, might hear them and investigate. It was a futile action, they knew, as they were now deep beneath the foundation and even if they weren't the house was miles from its neighbors. Nobody would be coming to help.

"Can you climb up?" asked Mrs. Dr. Possible as she looked down to see the barest highlights on her husband's face. There was a dimly lit light on the wall of the tunnel casting a dull blue color on everything.

Mr. Dr. Possible made a grunt followed by panting. "No..." he said, struggling. "I don't think I can."

"Well, I can't pull us both up, honey!" Mrs. Dr. Possible said loudly. Her grip was weakening and she wasn't sure she'd be able to adjust it as the muscles in her arms ached.

"I know," said Mr. Dr. Possible. "How about yourself? Can you pull yourself up?"

"I don't know," replied Mrs. Dr. Possible. Sweat was beading on her forehead and tripping annoying down her flushed face. "Maybe?"

"Then you should do it," said Mr. Dr. Possible. "I'm sorry."

Mrs. Dr. Possible looked down suddenly at her husband only to see him smiling weakly back up at her. She shook her head vigorously but he only nodded in reply.

"Don't-!" she started.

But she felt the weight release before she could finish. The sound of yelling quickly fell beneath her and became quiet.

"NO!" screamed Mrs. Dr. Possible as tears joined the sweat on her face. She began to cry, but then quickly grit her teeth and bit it back. She looked up and tried to pull herself back onto the slide. Her arms did not want to do what she asked but she forced them to do it all the same. With a tremendous shout, she began to pull herself up.

It took nearly a minute for her to swing her legs up high enough to get completely back onto the slide. She gripped the edges tightly, knowing that simple friction would keep her from falling now. Then, after securing her position and wiping her brow, she began to cry properly.

Less than a minute later, a strange, modulated voice echoed in the dark. "Doctor Anne Possible, are you not," it said. "Mother to Kim Possible?"

Mrs. Dr. Possible's face turned from sorrowful to fury. She looked around to see if she could find the source of the voice but it seemed to echo indefinitely, masking its origin.

"Who are you?" yelled Mrs. Dr. Possible back into the dark. "Why are you doing this?"

"Your daughter has many enemies," said the voice.

Mrs. Dr. Possible sneered in response. "So which one are you?"

A light turned on in the darkness, illuminating a large pigeonhole the size of a man. Inside of it, a figure stood, silhouetted by the bright light behind him. The figure's arms appeared crossed and he was rather thin and short.

"One who has much to gain by hurting her," replied the voice. It made a short quiet laugh. "One who could do great things if holding her leash."

Mrs. Dr. Possible bit her lip so hard she nearly drew blood. It was nearly impossible for her contain her loathing for this man who attacked them for the purpose of manipulating her daughter. She almost considered it lucky that her husband wasn't there to be used. If only she'd had that conviction.

"I'll never help you control my daughter," she yelled back.

"Not intentionally you won't, but eventually everyone breaks," said the silhouette. "And even if you don't, just holding you will give me power over her."

Mrs. Dr. Possible cast her eyes down.

"Think that maybe you shouldn't have gotten involved, mom?"

Mrs. Dr. Possible looked back up at the silhouette with her eyes wide. The figure motioned and lights came on around her. The figure was standing on a narrow platform in front of an open doorway inset on the wall, but now that the lights above had been lit, she could see that the figure was Kim, her daughter.

At least, it looked like her daughter. She was dressed in black with dark red highlights on her that looked like inverted 'V's going across her chest and at her knees. Her red hair had been pulled behind her into a ponytail and she had a severe look on her face.

"K-kim?" Mrs. Dr. Possible said, almost incapable of believing her eyes. Then she quickly leaned forward and looked over the end of the slide. Below her, a few dozen feet down, was a nylon net that covered the pit and a slight overhanging platform above it. On the platform, she could see Ron Stoppable, dressed in a long black trench coat, holding her husband's hands behind his back. She felt tears well in her eyes in relief.

She looked sharply back up at Kim. "WHY?" she cried out. She took a deep breath to yell loudly at her daughter but Kim simply raised a gloved hand in caution to her.

"I'm doing something here," said Kim, her voice no longer being amplified and modulated, but now sounding unabashedly sinister. "Something ...big. Something incredibly important. The world will one day revere me for what I am doing now." She took on a slight smile for only a second, before returning to her frown. "But until I finish, I will be attracting enemies. Powerful enemies that will try to turn the entire world against me and won't even flinch at using you to stop me."

Kim's expression softened just slightly. "I can't have that liability." She looked up towards the top of the slide. "Monty."

The sound of machinery echoed in the large canal and a walkway extended from the opposite wall from which Kim was standing and extended across the pit, passing the lip of the slide, and eventually meeting up with the small platform she had been standing on. The sound of machinery continued and a moment later, the platform Ron and Mr. Dr. Possible were on rose to be level with the new walkway.

Kim walked across the new path and stood at the edge of the slide and held out her hand towards her mother. Ron brought Mr. Dr. Possible over as well. A piece of duct tape had been over his lips but once they reached the slide, Ron pulled it off. Mr. Dr. Possible yelped briefly in pain but quickly quieted. He looked towards his wife with a sad expression. Mrs. Dr. Possible eventually stood and stepped onto the platform.

"Kim," she started, but Kim just turned and started walking towards the door. Mrs. Dr. Possible hesitated for a second but then sullenly started to follow.

Through the doorway, they were in a small room with a few chairs, a table with a phone on it, and another doorway, this one closed. Kim moved to the table and sat on one of the corners facing the chairs. Ron pushed the parents to the chairs and nodded his head towards them.

"What do you think you're going to do to us?" asked Mr. Dr. Possible, as he protectively held his wife. They were both slightly shaking, but managed to keep the weakness from their words and faces.

"Nothing," said Kim. "I'm sending you home."

Mrs. Dr. Possible looked at her husband, then to Kim. "But-"

"From now on, we're done," Kim interrupted. "You tell everyone you hate me, and I will make it clear I no longer have any love for you. My enemies will quickly realize they won't be able to use you as leverage against me."

"W-we're not going to help you do... whatever you plan on doing," said Mr. Dr. Possible, in what he thought was a stern voice but came across almost as if he were asking permission to be defiant.

"You're not helping me," said Kim, dismissively. "You're helping yourself. I can't afford to come rescue you, so I won't. The point is not to put you in a situation where you _need_ rescuing."

"Why bother?" said Mrs. Dr. Possible, loudly. "If you don't care about us anymore, why not just leave us to our fate?"

Kim looked back at them silently for a few moments, her eyes slowly moving between her parents. "I'm sure you can work that out for yourself," she said softly. Then she turned and grabbed the phone on the table.

---

Monique paced nervously around the Possible living room. The twins had gone to bed, or at least she had sent them up there. She didn't know if there were indeed sleeping or not, and right now, it didn't matter to her. She knew right now Mr. and Mrs. Possible were over in Europe trying to find Kim and she was anxious to hear some news as to what had happened. She'd called Wade a few times this night already and he assured her that he would let her know as soon as he heard anything. That wasn't enough to calm her nerves, but she did agree to stop calling every five minutes. She'd call every ten.

To her surprise, the phone rang and Monique darted over to the receiver faster than she thought capable. "Hello?" she said quickly, hoping it was Wade.

"You should stand back a bit," a voice that sounded like Kim said.

"What?" Monique said, stunned. "Kim?"

Suddenly the phone glowed and lurched from Monique's hand. Then there was a flash of light and Mr. and Mrs. Drs. Possible appeared in the room a moment later, disoriented, but otherwise intact. The phone fell to the floor after the light show ended.

"Mr. and Mrs. Possible?" said Monique.

The couple looked at Monique then looked around the room. "We're... home?" said Mr. Dr. Possible.

Monique blinked then rushed to the receiver again and picked it up. "Kim? KIM!" she yelled into the receiver.

There was a pause on the other side of the line. Then Kim's voice said, "Merry Christmas," and the line went dead.

---

Shego did not come down again from her room on Christmas Eve, and Agailia could only imagine what she was doing in there. On Christmas morning, the family gathered around the large table in the command center for their traditional breakfast feast. They would have preferred a dining room or at least a breakfast table but Go Tower had neither, and Agailia was more than happy to make do with what she had to work with.

The feast was, as every year, hand prepared by Agailia and Hego, working from seven in the morning until ten, when the family gathered. There were eggs, quiche, muffins, loafs, bagels, pastries, fruits, nuts, and, of course, a city ham. The ham was the centerpiece of Agailia's cooking, and would return for lunch and dinner, in different capacities. Fadi, of course, wouldn't touch the ham, but there were plenty of other foods prepared at each meal to more than fill him. With a family of seven, meals were big by necessity, but to Agailia Christmas had to be special, so she made the meals _even bigger_. Hego often commented that he was so muscular because it was either he worked off the extra thirty-thousand calories or he would allow himself to become perfectly round.

When the family sat for the start of the feast, Shego was still absent, and Agailia considered going up and trying to talk to her again. Fadi insisted she not, and that they had done all the damage they could. It would be better to now wait for her to talk to them. Agailia didn't like waiting, but she agreed to be patient, just this once.

Then, a short while after the eating had begun, Shego entered the command center. She moved slowly, and said nothing. She wasn't even wearing her favorite colors, instead she had a brown sweater on, and a pair of blue jeans. She moved to the empty spot at the table which had been set for her and sat down. She did not start eating.

The rest of the family, for once aware of each others' thoughts, gently set down their silverware and waited, poised interestingly towards their sister and daughter. When she is ready, they all thought.

Shego took her time, but when she had prepared, she looked up at the faces of her family, perhaps seeing them for the first time as people who loved her, and spoke.

"During a party I went to on Halloween," she began, letting each word slowly materialize in her mouth so that it could be pronounced exactly right. "I think I was hit by a personality changing gun." She breathed, as if she were pacing herself. "Since then, I haven't been able to stop wondering if the things I'm doing are because I want to do them, or because the gun has made me want them."

She looked down at her lap and rubbed her eyes for a moment. She sniffled once, and then looked up. "I don't know who I am anymore," she said.

Shego then paused, took a breath as if to say more, but stopped and merely looked at everyone.

Fadi was nearest to her and gently put his arm around her. "Come here, Pumpkin," he said as he held her.

Agailia stood and walked over to Shego as well, wrapping her arms around her. She didn't really understand everything about her children's lives, but she could understand doubt and confusion, and she could understand a conflict of identity, and that, she decided, was all she needed to know. She was her daughter, after all, there was nothing she wouldn't do for her.

---

Author's Note: Ended up going two weeks without updates due to holiday travel interference, but we'll be back on schedule from here on until the conclusion.


	9. Shifting Gears

9. Shifting Gears

---

Monty descended the stairs slowly and evenly into the basement of his home. It did not do to rush, the half-simian reasoned, as he had no real desire to be down there and the quicker he moved the more likely it was he would make a sound alerting the madman to his presence. With careful motions, he descended to the floor and silently looked around.

His basement was nearly unrecognizable by this point. The long rows of unused furniture covered in sheets had been moved and, in some cases, cannibalized for parts. The carefully crafted metal sconces along the walls had either suspiciously shorted out or had their bulbs removed to use in the giant ball of miscellaneous lighting in the main floor space. Where once there might have been dust and emptiness along the walls was now the cluttered piles of technology, paperwork and – to be honest – junk scavenged from Professor Dementor's castle. As Monty began his walk down the hall towards the main space he could hear and feel the broken glass beneath his feet, the cautionary remains of less fortunate lenses, slides, and bulbs that had gone before.

Monty knew he wouldn't be able to avoid the sound of crushing glass as he walked unless he travelled along the walls and he was quite done with that sort of behavior. If he was to be enslaved and treated as a butler, then at least he would pride himself in being a proper butler.

As soon as he began to walk normally, he heard the voice from up ahead. Monty knew it couldn't have been anyone other than the twisted inventor himself, Ron Stoppable. The fact that the blond boy was alone meant little as he was just as apt to go into a diatribe whether there was someone to listen or not.

"Boooyahahahahah! Only twenty-two volts? Child's play for my genius!"

Monty sighed and walked into the main area of the makeshift 'lab.' Stoppable was standing before a long table made up of four saw horses and two doors and covered in computer and machine parts. He was currently hunched over the table using a large magnifying glass to view a circuit board connected to an oscilloscope. The molded plastic of the teleporter device lay nearby and Monty presumed the circuit board and the myriad of parts around it were once inside the device.

A moment later, the blond boy turned and noticed Monty approaching. "Jeeves!" he said excitedly. "I've figured it out! I won't need the elephant after all!"

"Delightful," said Monty as monotone as he could manage.

"This will make things much easier for us," assured Ron, smiling.

"I'm sure it will."

"Ugh," groaned Ron. "Don't you see? Do I have to explain it to you?"

"I would prefer you wouldn't," said Monty.

Ron grabbed Monty's shoulder and pulled him over to another pile of electronics with a monitor on top. He dug around in the pile and pulled out a keyboard and began typing. The monitor glowed and showed a rough schematic of the city of London around the Bank of Engand. A cluster of buildings lit up and grew larger, showing a series of blue colored devices beneath them.

"As I told you before, the foundation of these buildings are interlocked to a certain degree because of the three vaults that extended below them. Pulling one out is impossible without the other buildings falling on it and causing them all to collapse even before lifting them high enough to fly them out of the city."

"Yes, it was a massive oversight of the city planners to not plan a way for someone to lift a building," said Monty. "I'll be sure to take your concerns to our _representative_." Monty said the last word forcefully. In the last couple month's he'd been getting more acquainted with British politics again since he hoped to one day regain his family's seat in the House of Lords. Unfortunately, he'd rapidly concluded that the so called 'Lord' that represented their area was a fool, and a swine could do a better job.

"Hah!" laughed Ron. "No, now, you see, it no longer matters!"

"It doesn't?" asked Monty.

"No, because we don't NEED to lift the building out and fly it away on magnets anymore."

Monty considered that bit of information. It was certainly the most asinine part of the original plan Ron and Kim had devised, but he presumed that it would rapidly be replaced by something even more ridiculous. "Please say that's because we're no longer going to rob the Bank of England."

"What? No, of course we're still going to rob the bank," said Ron, frowning. He waved his hand dismissively. "We're simply going to do it better now."

He was afraid to ask. "How will it be better now?"

Ron grinned again and moved back to the magnifying glass. He pushed it aside and gestured at the circuit board. "Because with this we can move it instantly."

"This is the telephone-transporter you used on the Possible parents," said Monty. "I think the bank might be a little big."

"Ah, you say that, but that's where my genius kicks in!" announced Ron.

Monty eyed him skeptically. "You have a genius?" he asked. He glanced around. "Where do you keep him?"

"I have figured out the limitations of the device. The size of the transport field is bounded by the size of the capacitors that store the pattern!" Ron reached over the desk and grabbed two large cords lying behind the magnifying glass. Pulling them over to the circuit board he roughly clamped them onto two shiny metal spots on the board. With a flourish he then flipped a switch lying nearby. The hum of barely contained power and the smell of ozone filled the air.

Ron pointed to the oscilloscope which now showed a line that traveled stead for a third of the screen then dropped down slightly before arcing up to the top of the screen and continuing steady from there for the last third of the way. "See!" Ron said. "The potential is much larger now, almost enough to transport this entire wing of the castle."

Monty rubbed his chin in minor interest. He considered the implications of instantaneous transport of objects normally too massive to move without breaking them down. Typically when a big archeological find is uncovered, thousands of dollars had to be spent securing the area, setting up tents to create controlled environments, store equipment, house workers, as well as generators to create power and contains to finally catalog and ship anything unearthed.

But with this device, they could just move the site to someplace already set up and already staffed with the best. Damage in shipment would no longer be an issue, and getting experts in to take a look could be easily accomplished. It would speed up archeological tedium by at yeast three times, if not more!

But no, Monty brought himself back down to earth again. There was no true scientific purpose for this device, no altruistic intentions by the piddling youth before him. He'd just created an incredibly practical device to use in a bank heist and then get discarded afterwards. What a waste.

"You realize the Bank of England is a significantly more massive building than this wing of my home," pointed out Monty. He looked at the thick cables. "Where do those go, anyway?"

Ron glanced over at the device then back at Monty. "There was a diesel generator down here before I dismantled it and took the capacitors out of it."

Monty sighed.

"But you're right, we need larger capacitors and more power," said Ron. "But I think with all the stuff we took from Dementor's storage, I can come up with something to use." He looked around for a few seconds and nodded to himself. "Yes, I'm sure something around here is useful."

"Well, do try to kill yourself in the process," said Monty in a cheery voice. "You know I'm always rooting for you to do so."

"Yeah, whatev'," Ron shook his head, remembering who he was talking to. "Why are you down here anyway? I told you not to clean this level."

"Ms. Possible sent me down here with a message for you," said Monty, reaching into his coat and pulling out a folded card. "She said it was urgent."

Ron blinked and snatched the card. "It was urgent and you waited until _now_ to tell me about it."

"Yes, I suppose I did," said Monty, proudly.

Ron grumbled something incoherent and then unfolded the card. It was a short message that read: "I want to talk to you. -KP" He folded the card again and then reached over to shut down the buzzing equipment. The oscilloscope flickered then went dark and then the sound died away.

Ron shot Monty a glare before pushing past him and heading for the stairs. The sounds of his steps eventually died away as he left the basement. Monty looked back to the table and the myriad of equipment lying out on it. He raised a thick eyebrow at the teleporter and considered the device once more.

It didn't _have_ to be a waste, did it?

---

Ron rushed into the great room where Kim was reading a magazine in front of the fireplace. If there had been a grand fire in there it had long since died away to a few smoldering embers. He hoped that wasn't a metaphor for Kim's current attitude.

"Sorry, KP," said Ron. "Monty took his sweet time before giving me your message."

Kim closed her magazine and tilted her head to the side so she could see Ron approaching from behind her recliner. "It's fine," she said. "After I told him it was urgent, he dusted the mantleplace, washed the dishes, and vacuumed the curtains before going downstairs. I probably should start using reverse psychology on him."

Ron shrugged and moved over to the other chair in front of the fireplace. Both plush recliners were positioned slightly angled such that they were turned towards the fire slightly and towards each other. He looked over at Kim with a smile. "I figured out a way to make our heist much easier and likely to succeed," he said. "You see, I was taking apart Demetor's tele-trans—"

"I'm so not interested right now," Kim interrupted making a cutting motion in the air with her palm.

"Y-you're not?" said Ron, baffled.

"So not," said Kim.

"But... uh, well, I mean, it IS kind of geeky so I can understand—"

"Nope, don't want to hear about the bank job at all," Kim interrupted again, looking directly into Ron's eyes. She was serious and her stare was reinforcing that.

"O-okay," said Ron. "So we're not going to be doing that anymore?" he asked.

Kim sighed loudly in what almost sounded like a growl. "Not in the next ten minutes, so maybe you could _drop it_!" she snapped then turned her head away, looking instead to the fire.

Ron turned to look at the fire as well, wide-eyed and not quite sure what to do next. He sat there for half a minute in silence before slowly looking back towards Kim. She was still staring into the fire, but she had a scowl on her face now.

"Um," started Ron. "I found the formula for that super bonding agent we all got stuck with that time. I could whip up a batch if you want and we could glue Monty to the ceiling for a few days."

Kim turned her head slowly towards Ron. He wilted in response.

"Or not," he said, quietly.

"Ever since we've gotten here," said Kim. "You've been talking nonstop about gadgets and gizmos and junk to turn potato farms into super battle insect breeding grounds."

Ron snapped his fingers suddenly, surprising Kim. "The insects! THAT'S what I forgot about," he said, pulling out a pad of paper from his pocket. "I knew I was missing more notes that flew out of the airplane." He shook his head as he jotting down some notes in his notebook.

Kim rapidly jumped to her feet and ran over to Ron, snatching the notebook from him and tossing it into the fire. "Aw, man," groaned Ron, then he looked up at Kim's face and quickly froze. "Um, I mean... what would you like to talk about?" he squeaked.

"We need to go out," said Kim.

Ron thought. "Where?"

"Out," said Kim. "As in, 'go out.' As in, we haven't been out without Monty in over a month, and haven't had dinner since before Halloween."

Ron blinked. "You mean a date?" he said. "That's all this is about? You just want to go on a date?"

Kim's glare intensified. Ron looked slightly to the side. "Erm, not that there's anything... um... yeah." He shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "So, dinner?"

"It's a start," said Kim. She backed off from Ron and went back to her chair.

"Is there... uh, a reason, maybe, that you're suddenly interested in going on a date?" asked Ron, unsure if this was a wise course of action but found his mouth speaking before his brain could stop it.

"You don't think you need to take me on dates anymore?" asked Kim.

"Er, no," said Ron. "I-I mean, no I don't think that, not 'no' that we don't need to go on dates."

Kim raised her eyebrows skeptically. "And there's nothing sudden about it," she said after a moment of making Ron sweat. "I've been trying to get you to get you out of that basement since Thanksgiving. Haven't you noticed?"

"Noticed?" asked Ron, blinking. "Noticed what?"

Kim growled quietly. "Noticed that I've been asking you about dinner and seeing the holiday show in Newcastle and showing you ads for day trips into London!"

"Um, that can't be..." Ron said then thought back. He recalled being asked about going out for dinner a few times, but he was busy building the laser for the bank job. He thought he recalled Kim telling him she wanted to see some nativity show in town but he dismissed it since he had little interest being Jewish and he was working on the mechanical bridge over the bit in the sub-basement of the east wing. There was also the time she mentioned going to London, which he thought was a great idea since he needed some parts from a store on Piccadilly Street. They brought Monty along to carry the components, he if recalled.

Ron's eyes widened. "Oh," he said.

"Yeah, 'oh,'" said Kim, rolling her eyes. She crossed her legs went back to reading her magazine.

Ron bit his lip. He had been... a little busy, he felt, but he was only doing what Kim wanted, he thought. "I just thought," Ron said a little defensively. "That we had more important things to be working on."

Kim closed her magazine again. She stood, then walked out of the room.

Ron watched her leave. "KP?" he said, feebly.

---

Felix Renton wheeled his way through the Middleton mall, occasionally glancing at the various signs and post-Christmas sales going on as he headed towards the food court. He wasn't much of a mall person in general, preferring online shopping for the cost benefit, but had recently come to understand that having a nearby place that was warm and offered a variety of options for brief entertainment could be much more beneficial, at least in proper company.

He paused briefly in front of the Game Depot store, wondering if the new Zombie Stomper game had come out yet when his cell phone rang. He absently put it to his ear as he looked at the sign for a new online game he hadn't heard about. "Felix speaking," he said.

"Felix!" said the voice on the line. "I need your advice on something."

Felix immediate straightened and looked at the cell phone screen showing an international number he didn't recognize. His eyes were wide as he slowly moved the phone back to his ear. "Ron?" he said.

"Yeah, it's me," said Ron. "Listen I don't want to talk long on this line in case Wade is listening in. Where are you?"

"Ron!" Felix repeated, surprised to hear from his now distant friend. "What's been going on? Your parents said you'd gone missing and Monique is telling me you and Kim turned evil and fled the country! Are you in trouble or something?"

"I'll explain, but first tell me where you are," said Ron.

Felix shook his head. As far as he'd heard, Ron was in Europe, he couldn't imagine why it mattered where he was now unless... "Why? Are you back?"

"Felix, please, where are you?" Ron insisted.

"I'm at the mall, dude," said Felix. "Where are _you_?"

"Hrm... the mall is bad," said Ron. "I'm not sure... hey, are there any payphones around?"

"Payphones?" asked Felix. "Yeah, sure, there are a few I guess."

"Go to one of those and call back this number," said Ron. "Call collect or something, I'll take of the cost."

"Ron..."

"Go, now!" Ron said quickly. The line then went dead.

Felix looked at his phone again as if it was possessed. He wasn't sure what was going on but it was very odd. Of course, anytime he hung out with Kim and Ron things got weird, but this was approaching a new record in that area. Had Ron come back or not? And why did he want to use a land line to talk?

No less uneasy, but interested in knowing more about what had happened to Ron for the last three months, Felix travelled to the nearest pay phone, which was located by one of the entrances next to a big department store. He dialed the number listed on his phone and listened to half a ring before the phone was answered.

"Felix?" said Ron.

"Yeah, dude, it's me. So what's going on?"

"Point the phone away from yourself," said Ron.

"What? Why?"

"Just do it, man, I'll explain everything in a minute."

Felix shook his head while pointing the phone away from himself. "THERE!" he shouted to be able to be heard over the ambient sound of the mall. "NOW WHA-"

There was a sudden flash that blinded Felix and he dropped the phone in alarm. A bright white fuzziness clouded everything and he rubbed his eyes to get them to clear. "What the heck was that all about?" he complained as he rubbed.

"Sorry," said Ron's voice, although it was far too clear and far too loud to be coming from the phone. Felix froze and opened his eyes to see who spoke. He could see little other than blobs and blinked several times before trying again.

Before him, standing in the mall, was Ron. He was dressed oddly, all in black with a long coat, but it was definitely him. He was hanging up the phone as the fuzziness cleared enough for Felix to be sure. "Ronster?" Felix said, curious if this was some sort of hologram or perhaps delusion.

"In the flesh," smiled Ron, patting himself on the chest and arms. Under one of his arms was a blue and orange plastic box with a cord sticking slightly out of it. "Didn't mean to blind you like that, I should have told you to shield your eyes."

"How did you get here?" asked Felix. "I thought you were Britain!"

"I was," said Ron. "Until just now. Now I'm here."

"What do you mean..." Felix trailed off. He had pieced together an explanation a second ago but felt it was too outlandish even for Ron. But considering Ron was clearly leading to it, he felt as if he would be playing dumb if he ignored it any longer. "Did you just travel through the phone line?"

Ron smirked. "A booya."

A war immediately raged in Felix's mind. He was no lightweight when it came to geekery, and standing right before him was proof of near-instantaneous teleportation technology. He HAD to know where it came from and how it worked. On the other hand, his closest guy friend had been missing for months, thought to have gone insane, and expected to try to take over the world any day now. Instead he was standing right in front of him. He HAD to know what happened to him and why he had done what he done. His interest in both topics was powerful and he struggled to figure out which set of questions to ask first.

He opted for a third way out.

"So, uh, how's Kim?" he asked, casually.

"Funny you should ask," said Ron, nodding. "That's exactly why I called."

"Wait, really?" said Felix, not expecting that response. "But, I don't know where she is, I thought she was with you."

"No, no," said Ron. "She is with me, but she wants me to take her on a date."

"A date," said Felix slowly. "And you came to me for... advice?"

"Normally I'd handle it myself, you know, give her a smooth Ron style night out," said Ron, moving his hands like a wave. "But she... uh, seems a little upset because I haven't been paying attention to her. I thought you might have an idea of how to make it up to her."

"Wow," said Felix. "That's quite a..." he struggled with what to say. There seemed to be no natural segue into what he wanted to ask so he just dove in. "Anyway, aren't you evil now or something?"

"What? No," said Ron. "We're just taking a new approach to heroism. You know, trying to be more proactive in the New Year."

"Proactive heroism?" asked Felix. "What do you mean by that?"

"You know, preventing evil," explained Ron. "Instead of sitting around waiting for it to happen."

"Preventing evil by doing what?"

"Stopping villains before they act, of course," Ron said. He sighed. "Anyway this isn't what I wanted to talk about. What do you think about Kim?"

"Don't you think you should go see your parents while you're here?" said Felix. "I know they're worried about you."

"No can do," said Ron. "We've gotta keep our distance from the family to keep them safe."

Felix's eyes widened. "Safe from what?"

"Bad guys," said Ron, as if it were obvious. "So, the date...?"

Felix sighed. "Alright, we'll talk about your date."

"Awesome," said Ron. "I'm thinking of taking her to dinner."

"Okay, then what?" prompted Felix.

Ron looked a little uncomfortable.

Felix sighed and for a minute he forgot about the last three months and remembered who his friend was. "All right, let's take a walk." He headed back into the main trunk of the mall with Ron walking beside him.

"Oh, the Eastside Mall," said Ron, looking around. "I thought you were at the Middleton Galleria."

"Typically I go to the one closer to my house, but I'm meeting someone here and they chose the location," explained Felix. "Hey, I don't suppose there are any malls where you are that you could take Kim to, are there?"

"I don't know," admitted Ron. "Though we were at Piccadilly Circus a couple weeks ago, which is like an outdoor mall."

"Ah, Piccadilly," said Felix. "I've been there. Nice area, if you don't mind the weather. That will probably work against you."

"It has been rather overcast lately," said Ron.

"So, you're staying somewhere near London?" asked Felix.

"No, more north, near Newcastle in Tyne and Wear," said Ron. "Though the train only takes a few hours to get there."

"Well, that's an option then," said Felix. "It's a bit of a trip, but Piccadilly has a lot of options both in the food and after dinner entertainment."

Ron nodded appreciatively. "Do you recommend any places?"

"Sorry, Ronster, last time I was there I was thirteen," said Felix. "It's probably a little different today. Just search online or something, look for candlelight dinners, fancy foods with long names, and well upholstered chairs and you can't go wrong. As for after dinner fun, I'm sure you'll find something interesting. Like a play or a museum, or maybe something else that interests Kim." He tried to think of something Kim would like. "Madame Tussaud's, maybe?"

"Who's Madame Tussaud?" asked Ron, tilting his head.

"It's a museum of wax statues," said Felix. "Nearly perfect moulds of famous people doing... well, whatever that person is known for doing."

"Neat!" said Ron. "You think they have a statue of the Fearless Ferret?"

"I'm sure they do, but you should probably be thinking about Kim," said Felix. "Find something she wants to see or do."

"Right, right," said Ron.

"You gave up on the coupons, right?"

Ron's smile became a little uneasy. "They were only good in the US, so I had to get rid of them."

"Its better that way, trust me."

Ron nodded and looked around as they walked. "Hey, who are you meeting here, anyway?"

"Just a friend," said Felix. "I imagine you've never met."

"Oh," said Ron. He noticed the video game store and paused for a moment, staring at the windows. He hadn't had time for video games in a while with how busy he'd been. Though he was well on his way to creating some of the imaginative technology he'd seen in those games, so there was some reward to it all. Staring at the store now, though, Ron was surprised he hadn't thought of them in a while. His life used to feature at least twenty hours a week of video gaming action, but now he barely had an hour to spare.

"Hey, buddy," Felix said cautiously. "When are you coming back home?"

Ron didn't turn. "When things are done," he replied.

"When will that be?"

Ron turned back and smiled warmly back at Felix. "Thanks for the help," he said. "I don't want to keep you from your date. It's good to talk to you again."

Felix opened his mouth to protest but felt the protest die in his throat. "Keep safe," he said. "I don't know what you're doing but knowing Kim... just, be careful."

Ron looked momentarily troubled, but then turned away and back towards the way they came. "Say hi to Zita for me," he said, then walked off.

Felix blinked. "How..."

"Was that Ron?"

Felix spun in his chair in time to see Zita Flores, his date, walk up to him. He adjusted his seat and turned the wheelchair to face her. "Hey Zee... yeah, that was Ron."

"I thought you said he was missing," said Zita peering into the crowd. It was so busy today she quickly lost sight of the retreating blond.

"Not missing, I guess," said Felix. "Sort of... run away."

"Should I go after him?" she asked.

"Trust me, he's gone already," said Felix. "Thanks though, I appreciate you coming to help little old handicapped me."

"Yeah, you're totally helpless," said Zita, sarcastically. She looked up and noticed what store they were standing in front of. "Oh, so he returned from being missing to talk to you about Zombie Stomper. Figures."

"You're just upset he didn't come to talk about Everlot: Death of the Bramble King," teased Felix.

"Gee, I guess you're right. I'll make up for it by talking your ear off instead."

"Ron! Come back!" Felix called out in mock-panic. Zita laughed.

---

Author's Note: This was an agonizing chapter to write and I hesitated in posting it, wondering if I should just dump it and skip to the date. There are a few key bits of info in here, and I didn't want the date chapter to get too big, so I decided to keep it for pacing reasons. I may change my mind after this story is over and go into the revision process, but for now it stands.

Despite the internet backlash, I actually like the pairing of Zita with Felix established in 'Graduation.' 'Graduation' no longer happens in this universe (since we went into AU territory sometime after Stop Team Go and ignoring all that Baby Hana nonsense), but I'd like to believe that Felix and Zita hadn't hooked up mere minutes before the alien invasion.


	10. Old Stomping Grounds

10. Old Stomping Grounds

---

While much of Go Tower is unfinished, consisting mostly of steel framing supporting the monstrous weight of the stone "GO" edifice, there were a few areas that had been lavishly decorated with all the needs that the team could possibly have. The main command room was one of those areas. While it lacked full walls and proper lighting, it housed the most advanced computer and communication technology that could be afforded at the time the tower was built. While the chairs could be a tad bit uncomfortable, Team Go had never lacked resources to wage their war on crime.

The other noteworthy area that had been finished was training facility that took up the entirety of the first floor of the stone 'O.' Accessible through a short tunnel from the main floor of the 'G,' the training room was three stories tall and included about a football field's worth of useable space across the levels. It was in these rooms that Team Go developed their strategies for combat and learned, sometimes through somewhat painful accidents, the limits of their powers and abilities.

This was Hego's favorite part of the tower, without exception, and he used it at every opportunity.

Which was why Shego was surprised to see Shelly -- the 'new Shego' -- alone there when she entered the first level of the facility. The first level was largely dedicated to an open space with various movable padded obstacles and a series of automated drones lining the walls. Right now the drones were dormant, but Shego could remember several exercises (designed by Hego) where they would be fighting off hordes of monster beetles or roaming undead, simulated somewhat questionably by those mobile drones. Hego referred to this level as the 'Simulation Room.'

Shelly was not using the automated aspects of the simulation room right now. Instead she had arranged the obstacles into a sort of multi-layered labyrinth where she was bouncing off walls and climbing through tight holes to swiftly get from one side to the other. Her agility was stunning as she moved, twisting her lithe body with ease through the course, flipping and leaping with equal grace and efficiency until she reached the other side. A red colored button lay on the other side of the grueling gauntlet and she slapped it as soon as she was within reach. A number then appeared on a large screen by the button, showing her time from start to finish with a history of other trials beneath it.

Shego moved along the raised walkway over to the other side of the course, where Shelly was breathing quickly and studying her time like it was a puzzle she needed to solve. Shelly was dressed in a workout green tank top and spandex leggings, accenting the long smooth curves of her body as she breathed. Her hair was tied in a long pony tail behind her. She gave no indication that she'd noticed Shego's approach until the latter stepped down off the walkway onto the platform behind her.

"Good morning," said Shelly between breaths. She turned slightly to nod towards Shego, who returned the casual regard. "Everyone's upstairs, looking at some videos of Astronica."

"Ah," said Shego. She'd expected her brothers to be here but they were apparently still dissecting moves of their enemies to better develop defenses. That made some sense, but didn't answer her other question. "Why aren't you with them?"

Shelly considered that then shrugged slightly. "Nothing to add, I suppose?" she ventured. "Hego doesn't really like input on his plans, and I've never met her to offer any color commentary." She reached out to a series of glowing blue buttons beside the large red one and reset her times. The screen then slowly faded away. "He'll come down when they've got a strategy to try out, I'll get the update then."

"So, you're just working out for the hell of it?" asked Shego, wondering exactly what sort of overachiever they'd picked to replace her. It almost irritated her that Shelly seemed almost completely opposite of her. The new girl was quiet, reserved, and dedicated to the mission. Shego had been called loud, boisterous, and opportunistic. While at the moment Shego felt uneasy about the last qualifier, the only thing she thought they really had in common was their non-nonsense attitude.

"I can't afford to be at anything other than my best," said Shelly. "It's too dangerous otherwise."

Shego raised an eyebrow. "Hego going to kick you off the team?"

Shelly frowned in thought. "I don't have super powers or an ability to heal from most injuries. If I make a mistake, I can – I _have_ paid a much higher price than your brothers. On the reverse, if I can't perform when they are depending on me, I may endanger them." She looked at Shego directly. "You know your brother is important to me. I don't want to do anything to put him in danger."

"I... understand," said Shego softly. She did, in fact, and had considered these things in the past from a slightly different perspective. "But you should understand that you can't keep them from danger. I tried, and... well, they like to run head long into it."

Shelly's frown turned quickly into a wry smile. "I've noticed."

"But I wouldn't worry about it if I were you," said Shego. "I mean, keep yourself safe, but, as far as performing goes, you're no slouch."

Shelly looked at Shego confusingly. Shego continued, "That... routine or whatever you call it through this maze here was damn impressive. I used to be the agile one of this group and I think you could easily run circle around me."

Realization dawned on Shelly's face and she nodded. "I've been training for most of my life in the martial arts," she replied. "Because of my size, I couldn't offer much in way of power. My sensei suggested that speed and accuracy were just as powerful as raw strength."

"He's right," said Shego. "I know a girl that could..." she trailed off, unwilling to complete the sentence. Memories lay down that path, memories she wasn't yet comfortable dealing with. She shook her head briefly. "Sensei, eh? So, Japanese martial arts, then?"

Shelly nodded. "Yes, predominantly, though he instructed me in many styles from other regions as well such as Muay Boran and Tai Shing Pek Kwar."

Shego reacted visibly to the last style and stared at her suspiciously. "You've been taught Tai Shing Pek Kwar?"

Shelly nodded. "I have, among other Chinese arts. I'm quite good at it, actually, as it emphasizes acrobatics over force of impact."

"Who was your teacher?" Shego said quickly.

Shelly became quiet and thought for a moment, her mouth becoming a thin line as if to trap any sounds from getting out. Then she looked up and spoke slowly. "I'm sorry. Out of respect for my sensei, I can't give you his name. He doesn't want to be known."

"He didn't happen to be a particularly hairy man with an English accent by any chance?" asked Shego.

"Ah, no," said Shelly. "My sensei is most definitely Japanese, and has not much hair these days, unless you count the beard." She looked curiously back at Shego. "Why? Who's the hairy man?"

"A particularly annoying, self-important guy with an obsession with monkey kung fu," said Shego, relaxing slightly. "With luck you'll never meet him."

"I see," said Shelly. She looked back over the obstacle course, studying it quietly.

Shego recognized her trying to get focused again and turned to head upstairs. She had things to discuss with her brothers and didn't feel like distracting Shelly from her training any further. She headed onto the walkway and began crossing back to the entrance and stairs.

"Shego," called out Shelly when the older woman was halfway across the path. Shego turned back to look at the platform but Shelly wasn't there. Instead she'd crossed half the practice maze and was standing on top of a conical pillar, one foot balancing on the small tip and the other bent at the knee for balance. Shego was stunned she'd moved so quickly and so quietly. She was practically a ninja.

"Are you coming back to the team?" asked Shelly, looking up at Shego.

Shego looked briefly to the side. "For now," she said.

Shelly nodded and looked down. "I'm going to need a new name."

Shego smirked. "Yes, you will."

---

"Yugo," said Hego.

Shego and the rest of her brothers stared at him as they sat in the small video room on the second level of the fitness facility. Hego looked proud with himself and if she hadn't seen it recently, Shego would have doubted he knew how to look any other way.

"I'm... going to pretend you didn't say that," said Shego. "And mention again that Shelly needs a name."

"We're going to side with sis on this one," said the Wegos, equally stunned.

"Yeah, sorry Hego, I think we should just let her pick her own name," said Mego. "I'm all for team unity, but lets just let her do this on her own."

Hego folded his arms in a huff. "Hmph," he mused.

"So, what's this all about?" asked Shego pointing at the screen. A picture of Astronica was on the screen and it had been scribbled on slightly with erasable marker. Astronica was a tall, buxom blonde haired woman with tanned skin, no modesty, a streak of pink in her pompadour, and a tattoo around her eye shaped like a long 'A'. Her gimmick was her powered exoskeleton, though the application lead much to be desired. She wore a pair of gauntlets lined with gears to give her a colossal grip, one of which had a frame that extended up to her shoulder, increasing the power in her punch. Then she had the boots and hinges up her legs she used to jump and land, and, of course, a visor with some basic statistical information.

While the mechanics worked more or less reliably, the sheer weight of the parts on her svelte frame meant she had to be more or less naked elsewhere and even then she got tired fast necessitating an escape. Power was also an issue as every battery she carried with her was more weight to lift. Team Go could usually be assured a victory if the battle lasted more than ten minutes, though the detailed notes on the screen made Shego wonder if things had recently changed.

"Well, sis, we've been going over the strategies for all our B-listers in case they get the same power-up that Hellpike and Cold Stare received," said Hego.

"Except we don't _have_ strategies for most of the second tier villains," pointed out Mego. "So we've been starting from scratch."

"All of them?" asked Shego. "Couldn't you narrow that down a bit? What did Cold Stare and Hellpike have in common?"

"They both suck?" offered the Wegos.

"That's helpful," Mego rolled his eyes.

"Who were their common contacts? Hangouts? You know, stuff to figure out who this 'Creator' is," said Shego.

"'Creator?'" asked Hego.

"Yeah, that's who Cold Stare said gave him the power boost," said Shego. "At least I think that's what he said as he was dying. Any of you guys heard of a 'creator' before?"

"Apart from the biblical one?" asked Mego.

"I dunno, maybe," said Shego. "He was dying after all. Maybe he was delusional as well. He certainly didn't sound all that coherent when he came after me." She shivered involuntarily. "I can't tell if he asked for what happened to him or not, but he certainly didn't seem pleased with the results. He couldn't control it at all in the end. He came after me because he was desperate to be warm again."

"He attacked the tower looking for you?" asked Hego.

"Yeah, I think so," said Shego slowly. "Like I said, probably delusional. He couldn't remember that I'd left years ago."

Hego frowned and put his hand to his chin. "Maybe."

"Maybe?" scoffed Mego. "What else would you call it? Stupid?"

"Convenient," said Hego. "He wasn't wrong. You were here on that day. He just attacked too early." Hego looked at the screen idly then turned back to Shego. "Did he say why he thought you could help him?"

Shego shrugged. "Just that he was looking for my fire. He said that all other fires go out when he gets near."

"A lot of good it did him," said the Wegos. "He was nothing but ice by that point."

Shego frowned. "No, he wanted me to kill him. It was almost like... he knew I could do it." She looked up. "Hego may have a point."

"Woah, woah," Mego held up his hands. "You're saying that somehow he knew you were coming to Go City on that day? That he planned on you being in the tower despite the fact that you hadn't been for more than a day in the last five years? How is that possible?"

"He could have been watching for ticket sales," said one of the Wegos. "You came on a train, right?"

"Did you buy your ticket in advance?" asked the other Wego.

Shego shook her head. "No, not more than a few hours before." She paused. "It takes several hours to get here. He must have started his attack while I was on the train. It's possible he saw the booking and... no, wait, he never would have known the name. I didn't buy my ticket under 'Shego.'"

"You didn't?" asked Hego, surprised.

"No, I was trying to avoid attention," said Shego. "I didn't want Possible to know I was leaving Middleton."

"Possible was changed by the personality ray, right?" asked Hego. "So she's evil now, like we were."

"Feh. Probably a lot better at it than you were," said Shego.

"Granted," said Hego slowly as if things were coming together in his head. "So, Possible is evil now, and you were trying to travel without her noticing."

"Yeah, I just said that," said Shego.

"And on the day you arrived here, someone came looking for you. Someone who should have known better than to look here for you," continued Hego.

"Yeah—" Shego blinked. "Oh, no way. You think _Possible_ is behind this?"

"Or she played a part," said Hego. "It makes sense. Someone had to know you would be coming here, someone who was involved in what happened to you at that party."

"Yeah, okay, but augmenting the power of our second rate villains?" asked Shego. "How could she possibly..." She suddenly trailed off and her eyes widened. "The nerdlinger!"

"Her guy on the screen?" asked Mego.

"That kids a genius," said Shego. "He could easily have the know-how to start equipping people with deadly gear. But... no. No, he wasn't at the party. At least I don't think he was."

"Does it matter?" asked the Wegos. "He works for her, doesn't he?"

"I don't think it's like that," said Shego. "I get the impression he only helps because he wants to. If she suddenly turned on him... I don't know what would happen. I just never cared much about Kimmie's circle of friends before."

"Know thine enemy," declared Hego as if he were quoting.

"That was more Drakken's job," grumbled Shego. "Hmm... speaking of, I wonder what happened to him?"

"So what do we do?" asked one of the Wegos.

"Is she after us or just Shego?" asked the other one.

"We don't know for sure it's Kim," said Hego. "It's just a remarkable coincidence if it isn't."

"Yeah, and I don't remember her ever going by 'the Creator' before," said Shego. "They could be separate people. Creator is making trouble and Kim just told him where to find me."

"So the question is," said Mego. "Do we concentrate on the Creator or on Kim?"

The family fell silent as they each considered which to be the bigger and more likely threat. Team Go's villains weighed against Shego's old nemesis in silent debates going on in five heads.

"Why not look at both?"

The four brothers and one sister turned to see Shelly standing in the doorway to the video room. She was still somewhat sweaty from her practices and had a towel draped casually over her shoulders. She looked evenly at each of them but kept her gaze the longest on Mego.

"There are more than enough of us," continued Shelly. "The Creator is definitely in Go City, since Cold Stare certainly didn't take a bus here given his condition. Kim Possible has a fairly public profile. It shouldn't be hard to figure out where she's been or what she's been doing on the internet."

"You're assuming they're different people," said Mego.

"They have to be," said Shelly. "Hellpike attacked before Halloween."

Mego blinked. Then he looked at Shego who was similarly stunned.

"Well," said Hego with a smile. "Since that's settled, what do you think about the name Yugo?"

---

Shego pulled on her uniform, feeling strangely uncomfortable in it as she walked. The outfit hadn't changed, and she'd light up anyone who claimed her body type had changed, it was just ... scratchier than she remembered. And warmer. Maybe a smidgen tight around the waist. It was not that she'd let herself go a bit in the last two months of wearing sweaters and jeans. Not at all.

"You okay, sis?" asked Mego as they walked through the west side of Go City. He was also similarly in uniform, as was Shelly beside him. Shelly was still wearing a copy of Shego's outfit as they hadn't had time to create a replacement yet, though she wore her mask – something Shego never did -- and had her hair in a ponytail while Shego left hers as usual.

"Fine," Shego said curtly, annoyed that Mego noticed her discomfort, to say nothing at how sleek Shelly looked in her outfit. Shego had the bigger bust, which she couldn't complain about, but the younger girl was taller and all around slimmer.

Rather than getting annoyed any further, Shego changed the subject. "So, how much has this place changed in the last few years?"

"The Clandestine?" asked Mego. "Not much, honestly. The B-listers are pretty predictable, even after half a decade. Edison still mans the bar, the password is still 'Edifice' and the tip jar is always dry."

Shego chuckled at the last comment. She remembered that crusty jar by the door, asking the more successful villains to give a hand to the second or even third tier ones. It was a preposterous idea, the reality of which became evident after the first ten or so years of it being there. By now it must just be tradition, Shego imagined, unless they've repurposed it into a trash can.

"In Middleton they have a coffee house where the A-listers hang out," said Shego. "They all imagine themselves as some sort of bourgeoisie even though there isn't really a second tier there."

"Aren't they all world class?" asked Shelly. "Why would they stay in Middleton?"

Shego rolled her eyes. "Kim Possible, mostly. The problem with the mega-evil-ego is that it can't stand being right unless it's right _and_ their nemesis is wrong."

"And you, of course, had no part in that?" asked Mego with a sly smile.

"My rivalry with Kimmie has nothing to do with ego," said Shego. "She gets in the way and I try to stop her. If she's not trying to stop Drakken from doing whatever it is he's doing, then I could care less what the little princess is on about."

"Right," nodded Mego, with obvious disbelief. "And her beating you all those times doesn't grind your stones."

"Hey, the next time we run into her you just ask how many times I've had her tied up," snapped Shego.

Shelly blinked and looked at Shego curiously. Mego followed suit.

"Over a _death trap,_ obviously," elaborated Shego. She pointed a finger at Mego. "I don't expect better from you." Her finger moved to Shelly. "But you I'm surprised about."

Shelly raised her brow. "What about this costume leads you to believe I only have pure thoughts?"

Shego grumbled, annoyed that the conversation somehow circled back to being about Shelly's costume and the way it not so subtly hugged her well toned abs.

"We're here," Mego said. Shego looked up and noticed that they had arrived at The Clandestine, the villain's bar. It was a non-descript door with a simple green awning that read 'Clandestine, A Pub' in white script letters.

"The awning's new," pointed out Shego, nodding appreciatively as they headed inside.

The interior of the Clandestine was decorated in the oldest tradition. Dark walls, lined with wood paneling with matching dark wood flooring and booths. Some black tablecloths lined the standing tables, in an attempt to look slightly more professional, but they were stained and the dangling edges were crusted with salt from a variety of spilled drinks that hadn't been properly cleaned.

At least the smell wasn't bad, noted Shego, as a thick aroma of roasted... something flowed from beyond the swinging door leading to the kitchen, along with the ever pervasive odor of deep fried potatoes, the real finger food of modern bar life. For the afternoon the place was pretty well filled, maybe about a dozen and a half of men, sprinkled with the occasional cloaked woman, wearing a variety of spandex, flowing robes, trench coats, and, of course, normal streetwear. Headgear was popular in one corner of the bar, where three men and one woman were sitting in a booth eating fries and discussing something. Though what they were discussing was probably impossible to hear with the clanging of their metal dangly baubles from spires rising out of their hats.

Shego, having been an actual villain, relaxed as much as he ever did at these shindigs, and sundered up to the bar. Edison, the barkeep, was an elder man with graying hair on the sides of his head, pulled back in a tiny pony-tail. He had thick black eyebrows and a gnarled nose that held up pair of wire-frame glasses. He looked at Shego with grey eyes and chewed on his cheek with a displeased air.

"Team Go, huh," said Edison, his voice coarse and deep. "Shouldn't you kids be at school."

Shego smiled, unfazed. "Come on, Eddy, you've been using that line since I was eighteen. Don't you have any new ones?"

"Nothing that..." Edison trailed off and looked beyond Shego at her team mates. Then he looked back at Shego and frowned slowly. "Shego?"

"That's what the green means," Shego said, motioning to her costume. Then she motioned with her head back at Shelly. "Well, except for her. There it just means copycat." Shego turned slightly to Shelly and winked at her.

"You're the original Shego," said Edison, with slightly more energy in his voice. "The one who works with Drakken."

"Ugh," Shego moaned. "You don't need—"

"Hey! Everyone! It's the original Shego!" Edison suddenly bellowed.

"Eh?" said Shego, alarmed. She had only a few seconds before the rest of the bar suddenly stood up and swarmed her. She raised her hands quickly in defense—when suddenly people started grabbing them and shaking them.

"Aw, man, it's awesome to meet you!" "Can I have your autograph?" "How do you do it? What's your story?" "Can I be your sidekick!?"

Shego's jaw hung open at the barrage of compliments and strange begging to be taken under her wing. She was a little perplexed at what to say or do about it.

"All right, fellas, give her some room!" Edison called out loudly. The crowd retreated only slightly, at least giving Shego enough room to turn around in now, but they all fixed their dream-filled eyes on her.

"What's going on here?" Shego demanded, looking around at the crowd. It was hard to keep her stern face at their expressions, though, they were clearly idolizing her.

"They all think the world of you," said Edison from the bar.

"Why me?" asked Shego, still not getting the joke.

"You're the greatest villain to ever come out of Go City!" said one member of the crowd, a younger boy with a baby-face and an outfit that looked like a cross between a bee keepers' costume with a steel welder's.

"I-I wouldn't say—"

"You've gone toe to toe with Kim Possible!" said another.

"A few times—"

"You nearly took over the world from Bueno Nacho!!"

"Really, that was more Drakken than—"

"You beat Aviarius and Team Go combined!"

"I'm not actually too proud of that," Shego said uneasily, surprised she was able to complete a sentence without being interrupted. She quickly took advantage of the situation. "Er, seriously, you guys are all villains, you shouldn't be looking up to anyone, let alone me. I was a sidekick."

"Everyone knows you were the brains of that team," said the bee-keeper-welder kid.

"Aheh, right," Shego nervously laughed. "Um, right, well, since you're all here and I ... apparently have your full attention. I'm curious if any of you have been contacted by some guy calling himself 'The Creator.'"

The crowd instantly turned still and some people looked away, quietly shuffling back to their chairs, the excitement of the situation immediately lost. Shego frowned and looked at Edison, who also turned his gaze away as soon as their eyes met.

"The hell?" said Shego, as the rest of the crowd disbursed. "What's going on here?"

"Ain't nobody here heard of a Creator, obviously," said Edison, now taken to cleaning a glass with all his attention.

"Oh, right, because you're all very subtle," sneered Shego. "What gives?"

Mego walked up to Shego and touched her arm. "Shego," he said softly. "We should go."

"What?" replied Shego loudly. "No way, these guys _obviously_ know something. I'm not leaving here until I hear it."

"Shego," Mego insisted, gripping her arm tighter. Shego turned and glared at him but he stood his ground. "They can't say anything."

"Oh, I can make them," insisted Shego.

"They're _afraid_, Shego," said Shelly, coming up beside them. "Someone has made it clear they can't talk about the Creator or there are consequences."

"Oh, come on," Shego said, pulling her arm from Mego's grip. She turned towards the rest of the bar. "You guys are supposed to be villains! If you want to be as good as me then you can't take crap from anybody! Not from heroes and not from other chump villains!"

The bar crowd remained quiet, averting their eyes wherever possible. Shego stared at them for several more moments before hissing abruptly and turning on her foot. "Fine," Shego spat as she walked past Mego and Shelly and headed for the door.

---

Mego and Shelly ran to catch up with Shego who was already halfway down the block when they exited the bar.

"Those guys know what's going on," Shego said angrily when they reached her. "There was no one who didn't shy away from me. That means he's been there before. Probably several times."

"You can't take it out on them," said Mego. "Whoever this Creator is, he's very good at persuasion. Or at hurting people."

"Who is this guy?" asked Shego as they reached the end of the block and waited for the lights to change. "Shows up all of a sudden and everyone knows about him but us?"

"He seems to target the less successful," said Shelly. "People easier to push around. That is probably why news hasn't surfaced yet."

"Yeah, until he lights them up and sicks them on Go Tower," grumbled Mego. "Then it's no holds barred."

"There might be personality changes involved in this 'upgrade' process," pointed out Shelly.

"Either way, everyone knew him or knew of him enough to keep quiet," said Shego. "That means he comes around frequently enough or he's watching. Maybe a few people in there work for him secretly."

"Maybe they all work for him," said Mego. "There's no way to know."

"That works in our favor," said Shego. "If either he comes here or these people work for him, that means this is a place we can pick up his trail. Let's set up some surveillance."

"Hego should be able to arrange it," said Mego. "He can get the equipment from the Mayor and the Wegos will set it up."

"Call it in while we head to the next hang out," said Shego. "I'm curious exactly how well traveled this Creator is in the villain community."

"Perhaps we should check the jail, then," said Shelly.

Shego shivered involuntarily. "I'd rather not. Besides, this Creator apparently thrives on being secretive. It'd be rather hard to do that in a prison where everything is logged and recorded."

Shelly shrugged. "That's reasonable, but we should keep it mind in case we come up dry."

"Fine," said Shego. As the light turned they crossed the road.

---

The Wegos filed into Go Tower a little after ten thirty, covered in snow and shivering. Six of them entered in a flurry which quickly condensed into two as they reached the command center on the main floor. Hego, Shego, Mego, and Shelly were already there, watching the large viewscreen.

"Good work, boys," said Hego as they sat down at the table and began blowing into their hands for warmth. "Though with this snow, it'll be impossible to see much of anything at this distance."

"Can't help it," said one Wego.

"There's no place closer to the door that won't be seen," said the other.

"We'll just have to hope he doesn't show up tonight," said Mego.

The screen showed the snow flying wildly in front of the camera pointed at the door to the Clandestine. The door itself was closed and there weren't many lights on inside. Some flakes began to pile near the bottom of the image.

"If this turns into another six inches the camera will be buried," said Hego. "And with everyone bundled up for the cold, it'll be hard to identify anyone."

"Damn it," said Shego, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair. "How did it go on the Kimmie front, anyway?"

"Not much," said one of the Wegos. "She seemed to drop off the radar the same time as you."

"Seriously?" asked Shego. "Miss tries too hard is actually hiding?"

"Seems that way," said the other Wego. "We could try calling around Middleton, but that was all we could find on the internet on her. Well, apart from her website."

"You were on her website?" asked Shego, sitting up.

"Yeah," said the first Wego. "We didn't send any messages though."

"That might not be a bad idea," offered Hego. "If we're looking to get in contact with her."

"Why would we say that?" asked Shego. "Because she might be connected to the Creator? If she really is working with him, then she might let him know we're onto him and cause him to skip town."

"Somebody knew you were coming to Go City," said Mego. "If not Kim, who?"

"Then somebody else at the party," said Shego. "Could be any of the Middleton villains or any of the HenchCo employees..." she trailed off. She frowned in thought and looked down.

"Shego?" said Hego.

"John Bork," said Shego. "He was the one who flew off the rail and started shooting the personality gun. It exploded in his hands so I assumed he was just a buffoon, but maybe it was planned."

Shego tapped her finger idly on the table as she considered the implications. "He knew how the personality gun worked, even better than Electronique did." She turned to Shelly. "You mentioned it before, the upgrade process seems to involve some sort of personality changes. The sort of thing this guy Bork might be able to do."

For another minute Shego sat in silence then slapped her forehead angrily. "Ugh! This is so obvious now that I think about it. Those HenchCo guys can't keep themselves from trying to 'improve' the villain community. This whole thing started years ago when they offered to help make villains 'more bad.'"

"So HenchCo is behind all this?" asked Mego.

"Well, John Bork at least," said Shego. "I wonder what happened to him after the party."

"He disappeared."

Shego looked up at the sudden voice that seemed to come from all around them. The rest of Team Go also looked around, confused. "The hell...?" said Shego.

The main video screen suddenly turned to static then was replaced by the face of a young, chubby, African American kid surrounded by computer parts. He looked down at Team Go with a serious expression. "HenchCo filed a missing persons report on John Bork two days after the party," said Wade. "He's yet to show up anywhere that I can track."

"Nerdlinger," said Shego with a bit of ire. Then she turned and glared at Hego. "You mean this thing is still always transmitting whatever happens in this room?"

"Not always!" Hego said, defensively. "Someone has to know how to connect to it! The mayor liked being able to talk to us quickly."

"Hego!" yelled Shego. "Don't you _ever_ think? What about privacy? What about us discussing strategy _just now? _Any villain could just tap in an listen!"

"I put a password on it!" said Hego, defensively.

"The password was T-E-A-M-G-O," said Wade. "You might want to change that."

"What the hell do you want, Nerdlinger?" said Shego. "Have _you_ ever heard of privacy, either?"

"I want to help," said Wade. "I think I can explain everything that happened."

"And why should we trust any help from you?" said Shego.

"Because Kim and Ron have definitely had their personalities changed," said Wade. "And I need your help if I'm ever going to change them back."

Shego hesitated and then looked to Hego with a concerned expression. Her brother sighed and nodded, then turned back to the screen.

"Then let's talk."

---

Author's Notes^H^H^H^H^H Rant: This chapter was tragically eaten by Word yesterday because it decided it could no longer communicate with my USB Flash Drive and then incomprehensibly destroyed the document and all the temp files. I ask of you why – WHY! -- would this happen? Even if my USB drive magically vanished, why destroy the STILL OPEN document? Word has a whole bunch of temp directories on the system drive, wouldn't it make sense to save the document there – at least temporarily – until communication with the drive could be restored? An even greater question: if it couldn't talk to the USB drive, how was it able to erase the document from said drive?

In great haste and somewhat unveiled anger, I rebuilt this chapter from scratch last night with my notes to guide me. Hopefully I haven't left out some detail that I was depending on in later chapters...


	11. The Date

11. The Date

---

Ron came up the stairs from his basement laboratory to find Monty lingering at the doorway holding Ron's coat. This was odd the first few times that he came across the servant in such a state this afternoon but now Ron was expecting it. He was, however, starting to suspect that else was going on other than the obvious.

"Time to leave yet, sir?" asked Monty, holding out the coat expectantly.

"Not… yet," said Ron, turning away from the offered coat.

"You don't want to miss your train," reminded Monty.

"No risk of that," said Ron, heading for the stairs to the second floor. "Everything about this evening has been planned to the second." He tapped the face of his watch for emphasis.

"You know what they say about best laid plans."

Ron paused on the stairs and looked back. "Yeah, I do know. And speaking of which... Monty, do you have any plans for this evening?"

Monty turned his eyes up and to the side. "Oh, you know, the usual. Polishing silver, sorting the mail, sitting down for some Faulty Towers."

Ron frowned. "Faulty Towers hasn't been on in years," he said. "And no matter how well you play the Jeeves role, I know you're just biding your time."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Monty said plainly.

"Sure you don't," said Ron. "Well, just in case, I've left a little friend for you to play with while we're gone so you don't get bored."

It was Monty's turn to frown now. "A friend," he repeated.

"Oh, it's a great pal," said Ron, cheerily. "It's connected to the surveillance cameras we installed while setting the trap for Kim's parents. It's a program designed to analyze your activities and determine if they're malicious or not. If it determines you're doing something bad, then, ZAP! Your collar gives you a friendly reminder."

"HOW exactly does it determine I'm doing something bad?" asked Monty, forcefully.

"Oh, it's all very technical," Ron waved him off. "Learning algorithms and neural nets and so forth. Take way too long to get you to understand. You'll just have to trust that I do, and I know it won't zap you unless it has a really good reason to."

"How refreshingly different," Monty said sarcastically. He pulled gently at the control collar. It was covered mostly by the collared shirts and tie he wore under his jacket, but even if it couldn't be seen, he could still feel it, and it constantly played at his mind.

"Cheer up, old boy," Ron said, slapping Monty on the back. "You've been doing great recently, haven't been zapped in weeks, right?"

"Except randomly when I'm sleeping," grumbled Monty.

"Really?" said Ron, genuinely surprised. "Hmm, it shouldn't be doing that. What are your dreams like?"

"Bliss," said Monty. Actually, his dreams often took the form of bizarre scenarios where he returned to his monkey ninjas and went in search of some asinine legend of a mystic monkey that could control time. Completely foolish, but he had little control of what his mind conjured when he was asleep.

"Maybe you just toss too much," said Ron. "I'll see about finding a way to disable the collar whenever you enter REM sleep."

"You're too kind," said Monty, again, thick with sarcasm. It was lost on Ron this time.

"Oh, you're welcome," he said, pulling out his ever-present notepad and jotting some things down. "Okay, I think everything is ready here." He crossed something off his notepad, then flipped the page. "Ah, right, I almost forgot." Ron stuffed the pad back into his pocket. "How would you like to be rid of that collar?"

Monty blinked, too stunned for words. Had he really just heard what he thought he heard?

"No?" said Ron, when the silence had lingered long enough.

"No! I mean, yes, I would," said Monty quickly.

"Great," nodded Ron. He turned and ran back down the stairs into the basement. Monty stared after him unsure if he should be following or if the question before was merely a cruel joke by his thoughtless master. A minute later, the steps returned and Ron appeared holding a box with a metal device that had a vaguely cylindrical shape.

"Uh," sounded Monty, looking into the box.

"This is a device we recovered from Dementor's lab," explained Ron. "Though I've not had any time to work on it, I think it's a weapon of some sort. It got a little jostled in the trip back but it should be fine."

"Okay." Monty wasn't sure where this was going yet. "So?"

"So I want you to figure out how it works," said Ron, simply. "Get this potentially deadly weapon working and give it to us, and I'll believe that you're trustworthy enough to take off the collar."

Monty looked in the box again. It was a little outside his area of expertise, but he certainly wasn't bad at figuring out complex devices. The number of monkey shrines protected by logic defying booby-traps he'd run into in the last few years was staggering. "That's it?" he clarified. "Figure out how it kills and you'll take the collar off?"

"Yeah," shrugged Ron, which was about all he could do while holding the box. "Why? You think I should make it harder?"

"No!" Monty said brusquely, then snatched the box. He headed back towards the dining room in the back half of the castle, eager to start examining it. He passed Kim as he was leaving the hall.

"Hey, Monty," said Kim, cheerfully.

"NNng," grunted Monty as he quickly moved past.

Kim came up to Ron, still staring back at Monty. "What's up with him?" she asked.

Ron looked up. "Hm? Oh, I just gave him a little project to work on while we're gone. Nothing big."

"Okay," said Kim, dismissing it from her mind. She looked to Ron. "Ready to go?"

"Yup," said Ron. "Just need to grab my coat."

"So, what's on the agenda," said Kim as she walked with her boyfriend to the coat closet. "Some Bueno Nacho in town then a trip to the arcade for some Zombie Fighter 2 Super Tyrant Edition?"

Ron looked at Kim with a raised eyebrow.

Kim grinned. "Just testing, naco-boy," she said.

Ron frowned briefly and pulled out his notepad again. "That reminds me, we need to kidnap, brainwash, or otherwise hire a lawyer. I've only ever seen one royalty check from Bueno Nacho. I think they're holding out on me." He scribbled in his notepad while Kim grabbed her coat. "And just for that, I'm not telling you what we're doing tonight."

Kim handed Ron his coat while latter stowed his notepad again. "Suit yourself," she said. "But the closer to the truth I am, the more time you're spending in stowage on the train ride back."

Ron stared, disappointed. "How did you know we're taking a train?"

Kim half-smiled. "Trade secret." She headed for the door.

Ron watched her for a few steps. "Monty told you," he said suddenly. "Didn't he?" Kim smiled wider but didn't say anything.

"What else did he tell you?" pressed Ron.

"Oh, this and that," said Kim as she reached the door.

"Come on, tell me," said Ron.

"Nope," said Kim. "You wouldn't tell me so I'm not telling you."

"You already knew what I was keeping from you, though!" complained Ron.

"Did I?" asked Kim. She opened the door and quickly slipped out.

"Kim!" called Ron after her.

---

The train ride to London was lengthy, which Ron had known in advance, and as such had prepared an agenda of things to talk about during the multi-hour trip. He got through section 'A', parts 1 and 2 before Kim grabbed the paper from him, crumbled it up, and stuck it into the purse of a passing woman. Ron was silent for a few minutes then, unsure of whether he should continue without the agenda or deviate.

"I thought you'd want to hear about those plans," offered Ron, after the silence had become near deafening.

"No work on this trip," stated Kim plainly. She looked very cross. "This is a date, which means it's about you and me, not you me and the whole world."

"Well, we're part of the world," offered Ron.

Kim shook her head in frustration. "I can't believe we didn't just use the teleporter. So stupid."

"Well, I had wanted to use the time—" started Ron.

"For a planning session, I get it," said Kim. "But I'm not interested in that right now, or in your agenda for our conversations."

Ron looked down into his lap, a little disappointed. He had to deviate, that much was clear, but he wasn't very good at that. He wasn't very good at planning either, to be fair, but with enough extra time to prepare, he could do it adequately. But now he had to fire from the hip, and the only thing he had a record of accomplishing when doing that was losing his pants and that wasn't the way he intended this date to end.

More minutes of silence passed between the two of them and Kim pulled a magazine out from the pocket of the chair in front of her to read. It was beat up and someone had scribbled in the teeth of all the pictures, but it at least gave her something to concentrate on during the oppressive quiet that Ron seemed determined not to disturb.

Ron continued to ponder his options. What should I talk about? What CAN I talk about that isn't related to video games, cooking, or how I've figured out how to miniaturize the laser apparatus for the bank job? I'm sure she would be interested in the laser if we weren't on this date. Or even the sonic disrupter I adapted from the super hearing aid that we took from Dementors. But no, we're on a 'date' which means I can't talk about anything I like...

Ron considered Felix's advice. Talk about what SHE likes. Well, what does she like? Cheerleading, saving the world, taking over the world, and cuddle buddies. Well, I imagine two of those things are off-limits and what can I really offer about cheerleading?

"You know," Ron started, almost surprised to hear himself start talking. "The—uh, the British Museum has a display about a series of small costumed straw dolls they found in the tomb of Senusret III."

Kim stopped reading and stared at Ron. The topic had just come from out of left field as far as she could tell. "Er, okay," she said, willing to see where this was going.

"They've apparently found remnants of similar dolls in Asia and Eastern Europe, suggesting they may have been traded," added Ron. "Scraps of cloth found with the dolls make it look like they were dressed in a variety of cloths from all over the area. If that's true, then they're probably the first kind of traded and collected dolls."

Kim paused to consider what Ron was telling her. "So," she started. "They're like an ancient Egyptian Cuddle Buddy?"

Ron nodded. "Yeah, that's what they think."

A smile slowly crept across Kim's face as she imagined the ancient pharaohs ruling the vast Egyptian empire, considered to be gods by the people of that era, going to sleep at night with a small Pandaroo tucked under their arm. Kim finally laughed at the thought.

"You're joking," Kim said between laughs.

"Nah, actually, Monty was talking about it the other day," said Ron.

"Monty was talking to you?" said Kim, skeptically. "Willingly?"

"Well," hedged Ron. "I may have zapped him the other day when blew me off and implied that the collar was now interpreting social sabotage the same way as actual sabotage."

"Oh, that's devious," said Kim, with a nod.

"You should talk," said Ron, smirking. "How many times did you call for Monty to fetch you a cup of tea on Sunday?"

"Once every eight minutes," said Kim. "And once every hour I'd drop my spoon and have him get me a new one."

"Yeah, that's devious," said Ron.

"Eh, it wasn't as fun as I thought it would be," said Kim. "And I think I killed one of the plants in the sitting room with all the tea I dumped in it."

"I was trying to figure out why that one by the fireplace was turning brown," said Ron, thoughtfully. "I thought it needed more light."

"You hadn't gotten to the root of the problem," laughed Kim.

"Ouch," said Ron, feigning injury from such a terrible pun while trying to come up with one that he could throw back. "Well, I—"

The train quickly started to decelerate, surprising most of the people in the train car with Kim and Ron and cutting off Ron's follow-up pun, mid sentence, as he head lurched forward toward the back of the seat in front of him.

"Ow," Ron said, this time honestly rubbing the bruise on his forehead.

Kim managed to keep herself from striking the curved seat in front of her, but only barely. She looked past Ron out the window to see the scenery slowly falling to a crawl before stopping entirely.

"What's going on?" asked Kim, looking around.

"Beats me," said Ron. "This wasn't on the agenda."

Kim stood and leaned over Ron to put her face against the window. She looked ahead. "I can't see anything," she said. "But we're pretty far back."

"I'm sure it's just a cow on the tracks," said Ron. He checked his watch. "They'll clear it in a few minutes."

"I think I see flashing lights up ahead," said Kim. "It might be police."

Ron frowned. "Maybe they need police help to clear the cow."

"Something's probably wrong," said Kim. She sat back down in her chair and stared ahead, clearly in thought.

Ron looked at her and pieced something together in his head. He then looked at his watch in a very exaggerated fashion, plainly in Kim's sight.

"Let's go see what it is," said Kim, standing again.

Ron sighed, his pantomime clearly lost on his girlfriend. "All right," he said as he stood. "Let's go see what it is."

---

The train finally pulled into King's Cross station in London and Ron and Kim departed with the crowd of other passengers, many of which held their noses as they walked past the pair of teens. Ron slowly moved to the network map on the wall of the station while Kim looked around the long waiting area.

"Okay, we need to cross over to the Piccadilly line," said Ron. He then looked down at himself. He hadn't gotten his pants and shirt too badly covered in mud, but his coat was covered from about under his arms to the tails of his coat. He'd have to get rid of it when this day was over, preferably in a fire.

Kim's jeans were covered in muck along with the hem of her shirt and her coat, but it all seemed to be of little consequence to her given her beaming smile. She took Ron's arm as they walked through the connecting corridors between the rail line and the Underground.

"I'm very dirty," Ron said, depressingly. He pulled at his muck crusted sleeve to expose his watch. "And we're very late."

"Cheer up!" announced Kim, with a smile. "I'm sure they'll still seat us. And it's just a little mud."

"I think we clearly smell," said Ron. "Based on the way everyone was holding their noses around us."

Kim reached into her bag which she had slung over her shoulder. She pulled out a small glass bottle with a spray top. Pointing it at Ron, she spritzed him three times then herself twice and returned the vial to her bag. "There we go, French bath."

"I can't believe you're so cheerful," said Ron. He expected her to get upset again when they discovered that it wasn't a cow on the tracks but a goat. And not just one goat, but eighteen goats. So he was stunned when she offered to help move the goats off the tracks. Then when a pair of the goats wandered off and fell into the ravine, he expected her to leave them to their fate, but instead she jumped in and saved them from being carried along by the current. Ron, of course, helped her every step along the way, even when the goats were being stubborn about walking up hill and the mud was slippery so...

Ron sighed again. "So dirty," he said.

"It was fun," said Kim, leaning against Ron as they walked. "Like we used to do."

"Used to?" asked Ron.

"Yeah, before we got all..." Kim trailed off. She seemed conflicted on what she about to say. "Yeah, fun." She nodded.

---

Piccadilly Circus is a thoroughfare at the intersection of several major roads near to the center of London. Much like Times Square in Manhattan in the US, it's at the center of several major shopping avenues and is lit ablaze at night by the magic of dozens of neon and LCD signs lining the buildings on every side. When Kim and Ron emerged from the Underground stations directly beneath the plaza, they were welcomed by throngs of people moving past, on their way to shopping, meeting with friends, or just passing through. To one side of the plaza, an open area was covered with about a dozen and a half easels each occupied by a different artist offering to sketch a portrait of anyone with a heavy wallet.

Kim looked around the plaza in awe for several moments. She'd been here before, but usually on her way to someplace else or to head off some villain or criminal she was chasing on foot. Even when they had come here a few months earlier, they had a clear objective and a list of things to buy that didn't include time for dawdling. Now, though, she saw it with new eyes and had to admit it was impressive.

"This way, KP," said Ron after he got his bearings. "The restaurant is just off the plaza."

Kim followed Ron as they pushed through the crowds towards one of the streets that made up the famous square. A few storefronts for clothes and jewelry later and Ron led her into a smallish restaurant that had an elegantly painted sign above it that said 'Tabbouleh Garden.' Inside, the restaurant wasn't very big, but it was moderately lit with accent candles on the walls, simple round tables covered in black tablecloths, and a series of artistic photographs on the walls of desert cities and features. The tables, which numbered no more than thirty, were mostly occupied by a variety of men and woman, most dressed nicely.

"Wow," said Kim, genuinely impressed with the atmosphere. "So, what kind of place is this?"

Ron was standing by the host's desk, negotiating their table, but he turned mid-conversation to look at Kim. "It's Lebanese food," he said. "Middle eastern cusine." He turned back to the host and began pointing at the reservation book between them as he talked.

Kim looked around some more at the food people were eating. Much of it wasn't too visually impressive, mostly dips and chopped vegitables and flat breads. A few people were eating what looked like shish-ka-bobs while still others were nibbling on salads. While the presentation left something to be desired, the smell was incredible. Kim took a deep breath and caught notice of lots of garlic, mint, and citrus, which she imagined to be lemon juice given the slices of the fruit she saw on a few people's plates. Simple smells, but strong ones that she liked very much.

"Okay, KP," said Ron, waving her over. The host, a thin man with dark features, was smiling at the two of them and graciously led them to one of the few unoccupied tables. Ron held out Kim's chair for her and then sat down himself.

"Lebanese food, I didn't expect that," said Kim as she continued to look around.

Ron was talking to the host in a hushed manner and motioned a couple times toward Kim and then towards the door before the man nodded, smiled, and walked off. Ron turned back towards his date. "We were in Damascus that one time looking for the president's lost ceremonial sword and he invited us to stay for dinner."

Kim thought back. "Yeah, okay, I remember that."

"You mentioned you liked the yabra and shawarma quite a bit," said Ron. "There aren't any Syrian restaurants around but Lebanese is close to their cuisine. I thought you might like having it again." He smiled earnestly.

Kim's mouth hung slightly open in surprise but she quickly covered with a kind smile. She hadn't imagined he'd be so thoughtful when she demanded a date earlier and was starting to realize he'd put genuine effort into arranging something she'd enjoy. She felt a little guilty now. She hadn't really expected this, and wondered if she shouldn't have gone after the goats by the train. Ron clearly had a schedule by the way he was looking at his watch periodically.

"Thanks... Ron," Kim finally said after the firestorm in her mind quieted.

"We don't have a lot of time, but I asked them to bring a selection of mezze and some chicken shawarama."

Kim's smile became a grin. "What are we at risk at being late for?"

"You didn't want to know," said Ron, slyly. "You'll see."

Kim laughed. The host returned then with a pot of tea flavored with rose-water and poured both of them a cup. Kim picked up her cup and held it up. "Cheers!" she said. Ron reciprocated and they both took a sip. "Aaah," Kim said, surprised. "It's sweet." She made a face. Ron laughed.

"So what's Mezze?" asked Kim as they drank.

"Like appetizers," explained Ron. "Though they consider it a meal since they bring them out in batches of five. It's mostly olives, yoghurt, fresh vegetables, and egg based dishes."

"You know a lot about this," pointed out Kim.

"I ... uh, well, I mean, I try to learn a little bit about the cusines of all the places we go," said Ron, slightly flush.

"Really? This is the first I've heard of it," said Kim.

"It's kinda like... you know, a hobby." Ron played with his napkin. "It's something I do at home when we get back. My parents seem to like it. Well, except after we went to Zimbabwe."

Kim laughed again. "Are you thinking about becoming a chef?"

"Well, not really," said Ron. "Not right now anyway given... you know."

"Yeah," nodded Kim.

"But maybe someday," said Ron. "I think it's fun."

"Well you can always cook for me," smiled Kim.

The food arrived then, a variety of dishes with a basket of soft unleavened bread to accompany them. Kim and Ron ate with enthusiasm, having worked up a considerable appetite during the goat herding and traveling. Overall, Kim considered it to be a delicious meal.

Ron checked his watch as they waited for the bill to come. "Well, it's going to be close but—"

A muffled scream sounded from outside the restaurant causing all the patrons to turn their heads. Kim raised her brow, curious as to what was going on while Ron slowly began to frown.

A moment later the door to the restaurant slammed open and four men rushed in dressed head to toe in black and half of them waving pistols around as they ran. Many of the restaurant guests screamed when they realized the strange men were armed while others stood and tried to get away from them as they ran through the restaurant.

Before the first of the men in black reached the door to the kitchen in the back, the front door of the restaurant slammed open again and several London police officers crashed in. They looked around quickly, then spotted the retreating armed men and chased after them.

"Die, scumbags!" yelled the armed man in the back of the gang. He raised his gun and fired off several shots into the crowd before ducking into the kitchen. Three of the cops quickly ran after their marks while one stayed behind and started checking on the people in the restaurant.

Kim watched the police file through the back door, her eyes narrowing. Then she heard the moan. Turning back she saw the remaining cop run to a woman lying on the ground near the front window of the restaurant. She was lying in a pool of blood and softly moaning.

"Ma'am?" said the policeman. "Ma'am! Can you hear me?" The woman's head rolled around, not focusing on anything. The policeman grabbed his radio and began calling for help.

Kim grit her teeth and made a fist with her hand, standing defiantly.

"Kim..." started Ron, wearily.

"Come on," Kim replied curtly, and started walking towards the kitchen. Ron quickly ran to keep up with her.

"We don't have enough—"

"We're not letting these guys go, they just shot a woman," said Kim as she kicked open the door and ran through. Ron sighed and followed diligently.

---

Ron and Kim walked quickly up to the box office for the Criterion Theatre. Ron was in the lead with Kim following after him, but he was the one who was dragging his feet. He knew there was little point in really running, they were an hour and twenty minutes late.

As they reached the door, Ron noticed a sign hanging up reading "No Admission After Show Starts." He sighed and hung his head.

Kim put her hand on Ron's shoulder gently. "Sorry, Ron. I know your schedule got messed up because of me."

Ron nodded solemnly and considered his options.

"Was there anything on the schedule after the theatre?" asked Kim, hopefully.

"Yeah," said Ron. He motioned back towards Piccadilly Circus. "Come on."

Ron walked with his hands in his pockets while Kim moved beside him, her arms gently held behind her. She tried to think of something to say several times but gave up on each, deciding instead to wait in silence and see what was the next step on the date Ron tried so hard to create.

Five minutes later they were standing before the Shaftesbury Memorial, a tall bronze fountain with the statue of a cherub on top. A few other people were sitting by the fountain, several were couples watching the neon spectacle in the square while others were probably waiting for people to meet them.

Kim and Ron walked up to the fountain and watched the water cascade down the bronzed surface. Ron pulled a coin out of his pocket and tossed it into the small pool. "There would have been fewer people here later at night, but..." he trailed off.

"It's nice," said Kim, genuinely pleased. She really couldn't be happier right now. Yeah, she got dirty earlier in the day, and they ended up having an abridged dinner, and, sure, they were interrupted at the end by a bunch of Serbian drug runners running through their restaurant leading to a cross city chase that left them over an hour late to the play they planned to see, but... well... It was _fun_. It was the sort of fun she felt was strangely lacking in her life in the last few months and she was delighted to discover it again.

Kim looked up at the top of the fountain, at the small winged cherub with a bow. She smiled when she implications that could be drawn by Ron taking her to see this specific statue. "Is that cupid up there?" she said, a little salaciously.

"Actually, it's Anteros," explained Ron. "Eros or Cupid was the god of love and lust." He blushed slightly. "But Anteros was his brother, and was the god of great and returned love." He looked slowly over to Kim. His expression was uneasy or unsure even with the blush still on his cheeks.

Kim reached out and took his hand and held it kindly. She opened her mouth to thank him for the fantastic date, even it didn't go as he had hoped, but changed her mind before she even got a word out. He wasn't looking for thanks, and she knew that. He wasn't looking for anything for himself, actually. He wanted her to be happy, and for once, she needed him to know that he had done well.

Quietly, Kim moved close to Ron and leaned her head against him. Gently, they moved slightly side to side as if dancing to an unheard tune. Ron held her softly in his arms.

"I'm sorry," Ron said.

"You have nothing to be sorry about," said Kim. "This was a perfect date."

"No," said Ron. "That's not what I mean." Kim parted slightly from Ron to look up at his face. "I knew we hadn't been dating or doing much of anything we used to, but I let myself get caught up in building things."

Kim shook her head slightly. "It's not your fault," she said. She put her head against him again. "I knew it too, but I... I thought I didn't want that stuff anymore. I wanted something very different than our normal lives but, I couldn't figure out what that meant."

"And now?" asked Ron. "Have you figured it out?"

"I think so," said Kim. "It's so strange. I used to want to be so... 'good', in every way I could, I suppose. And then, just suddenly, I strongly wanted to be as very bad as I could manage. But both of those were wrong, I realize now. They were extremes, and the truth laid in the middle."

"Some good and some bad?" asked Ron.

"Well, good, but not as limited," said Kim. She bit her lip. "There are people out there who just... want to do bad things. Like today, those drug thugs who just fired their gun wildly into a restaurant of innocent people. That's absolute terrible and I hate it. People shouldn't have to be afraid something like that might happen to them."

"But," continued Kim. "We can go after every criminal who commits a crime, and we'll do little to prevent that, since we're always showing up after the fact. No, if we are really going to keep people safe, we have to do better. We have to be proactive, stopping crimes before they start, so that no innocent people get caught in the crossfire."

"So, something like GJ?" asked Ron. "Monitoring all the threats out there so we can act when they close to a plan."

Kim shook her head. "No, I mean removing the threats entirely. I mean having enough control on the world so that nobody even has the opportunity to commit a crime."

"Controlling the whole world?" asked Ron. "Isn't that more of Drakken's territory?"

"He had the right idea, but for the wrong reasons," said Kim. "He wanted to dominate the world to use it as his personal playground. I want to put the whole world under our supervision so that people can finally be safe."

Ron whistled at the prospect. "We're going to need some help," he concluded. "It'll be hard to do it with just the three of us."

"So we'll have to recruit," said Kim. "We've got a big enough castle."

"That means people we trust," reminded Ron. "How many of those are we going to find that won't stab us in the back to try to be the boss or turn on us when they realize we hope to control the world?"

"We'll find the people," said Kim. "If not, I'm sure we could make some."

"Make some?" asked Ron.

"If Dementor went from mad scientist to English teacher overnight thanks to the attitudinator gun, then it should be easy to use it to make a loyal henchman. We just need to find it."

"I guess we'll have a visit to Jack Hench in the near future, then," said Ron. He held Kim tightly against him, glad to have his girlfriend happy again. He thought of something troubling and became uneasy again.

"What is it?" asked Kim, feeling her boyfriend stiffen.

"Um, if we're going to be building our own world dominating team, what does that mean for the bank job?" he asked, sounding slightly disappointed.

"Well, you're the chef," Kim smiled. "Surely you know that to make an omelet..."

Ron smiled again. "Booya!"

---

It was late into the night and almost the morning when Kim and Ron finally returned to the Fiske castle. They stumbled through the front door, smiles still on their faces, and began heading for the stairs up to their rooms. They got only two steps up when Monty appeared from around the corner and looked up at them.

"Stoppable!" Monty called out, and Ron was forced to stop and turn. Kim helped him stand while he looked back at the servant.

"What is it?" asked Ron, annoyed.

"I figured it out!" said Monty.

"Figured what out?"

"The device in the box," said Monty. "It's got a spinning weapon and a magnetron, I'm thinking it a form of water boiling gun. I can show you how I think it works but it needs some extra parts that were probably misplaced."

Ron looked at Monty as if he were speaking Swahili for a moment. Then blinked and nodded with realization. "Oh, right, the box," he said.

"You said that if I could figure it out..." started Monty.

"Yeah, yeah, that was a box of parts from a blender with a disassembled microwave tossed in for variety."

"..." said Monty.

"It's not really a weapon, I just needed you to stay busy while we were both out of town or you'd probably do something you shouldn't have," said Ron. He turned with Kim and they both returned to climbing the stairs. He called over his shoulder when they reached the top. "Good job though, very imaginative."

"Come on," Kim giggled from upstairs, out of Monty's sight.

"All right, all ri—wait, this isn't my room," Ron's voice filtered down.

"SHhhh! Just get in here."

"Woah!"

Next Monty heard the slamming of a door. Well, he would have heard it if he hadn't been stewing in fury and causing his palms to bleed from his fingernails in his shaking fists.

"I'll get my revenge on you, Stoppable," Monty growled. The collar shocked him for saying such a thing, but the half-simian ignored it. "Just you wait."

---

Author's Note: ...


	12. Clarity

12. Clarity

---

Shego stared up at the jumbotron in Team Go's command center, unsure what to think about Kimmie's tech geek on retainer calling them out of the blue to chat. Given what Shego knew about her rival's personality changes, there was little telling what the motivations of the nerdlinger were these days and how much he said could actually be trusted. Hego insisted that there could be little harm in Team Go listening, and while that may be strictly true, one did wonder what the computer genius would be doing inside their systems _while_ they were talking.

"So spill it, braniac," said Shego. "Explain everything. Start with the extinction of the dinosaurs so we don't miss anything."

Wade rubbed his forehead and sighed. The screen went dark and was quickly replaced by a wireframe rendering of a rather large gun. It was nearly a hand-held cannon at the size of the barrel and the large grips extended from either side. Shego recognized the massive weapon, though wished she didn't.

"This is the RB6000," said Wade over the speakers. "It was developed by one of HenchCo's research and development departments over the last three months. It's a fusion of two technologies: the Attitudinator, originally developed by John Bork's team, and the Moodulator, a piece of technology purchased by Jack Hench from Dr. Cyrus Bortle. Shego, you know both of these well."

"Damn right," said Shego. "Hang on, how do you know all this?"

"I hacked HenchCo's servers," said Wade. "Which turned out to be less fruitful than I'd hoped. Completed projects are often in archives which is not networked, and in progress user documentation is maintained on people's laptops which are not frequently backed up to their online mirrors. Most of this information I pulled from their e-mail system, as they seem to have the tendency of e-mailing everything to each other."

"So, some of this information might not be right?" asked Shelly.

"Well, some documents may have been out of version," said Wade. "But more likely I'm missing information than have outright gotten something wrong. In any case, the technical schematics of the gun aren't entirely relevant, just its intended effects."

"Which are?" asked Mego.

"According to e-mails, the gun is supposed to clear down the target's personality back to a blank state," said Wade. "From there, a new one can be assigned."

"A new one?" asked Hego.

"It seems as though the intent is to prepare the target of the gun before using it, establishing some cues that they're supposed to understand," said Wade. "For instance, showing the target a type of personality over and over again and associating it with... I'm not sure, bell or something."

"Conditioning..." said Shego, an unfortunate series of thoughts beginning to form in her head.

"Right," said Wade. "Then, after the gun is used on them, the bell is rung, and the subject is imprinted with the personality associated with the bell."

"You'd need a lot of prep time to even try that," said the Wegos. "And who knows if you're conditioning is working. You should be showing a person a series of fights with Bruce Lee and the figure is imprinting on the people he's defeating."

"It _was_ experimental," offered Wade. "HenchCo doesn't seem to have many qualms with releasing equipment that could cause unexpected effects. Everything they sell is 'use at your own risk,' which for your average villain is good enough."

The command center fell quiet as Team Go considered the information they'd been offered. Shego quietly started clenching her fist. She already knew what was about to come, but knowing she'd have to hear it spoken aloud made her furious. The only question in her mind was who would ask the question.

"Wait, I don't get it," said Hego.

Right, of course it was him, thought Shego.

"What happened to Shego then?" continued Hego. "Did someone condition her at the party? And what were they trying to do?"

Wade turned his head slightly as if to face Shego, even though it was all just a camera on his end. "I have a pretty good idea what happened. Though I'm not sure if Shego wants me—"

"Its fine," said Shego, brusquely. "Whatever." She turned away from the screen and the rest of the team.

Wade hesitated all the same, his mouth hung slightly open as if his thoughts had been interrupted. He cleared his throat after a minute then began his explanation.

"At the Halloween party, the RB6000 was being used rather recklessly and I don't think most effects of that night were intentional. Still, there were a number of people changed by the gun regardless, the most obvious of which were Kim and Shego, who ended up slightly reversed. More subtly, though, Junior became a more focused and better thief, and Duff Killigan has been hanging around the pro links offering his services as a caddy instead of playing himself."

Wade sighed. "The only way we can explain all of these different personalities emerging from the one night is to assume everyone came to the event pre-conditioned. They just needed to see or hear the proper trigger and they changed to the conditioned personality."

"How is that possible?" asked Mego. "EVERYONE came to the party pre-conditioned? And you say that screwing up everyone's personality was unintentional? How can that be? Those statements contradict!"

"They don't if you remember the key element that gathered everyone there that night," said Wade.

"What?" said Mego, confused.

Shelly's eyes widened and she nodded slowly. "It was a Halloween party."

Mego frowned, still in the dark. But the Wegos turned to look at Shego slowly. "Sis, what did you dress up as for Halloween?" they asked.

Shego looked down, feeling her cheeks burn. "Kim Possible."

"And I know Kim was dressed up as Shego," said Wade. "They both had more than enough knowledge of each other to have a pretty good idea of how the other acts. And since they were dressed as each other when the gun wiped out their personalities..."

"A visual cue," said Hego.

"They imprinted on each other's personalities," said Wade. "And each left the party believing they were the other."

Shego shook her head. She didn't want to believe it. It was silly that you could force someone to become someone else just by dressing as them. Asinine. And yet, she'd seen things derived from greater lunacy in her dealings with the villainous community of Middleton. And she knew first hand that good and evil could be manipulated easily by those with the knowledge. It just wasn't fair that it was always her being toyed with, and always by accident...

Or was it?

Shego turned to see Team Go looking back at her, and Wade's large head staring down. "It was the theme of the party," she said. "We were told on the invite to dress as your opposite, the person least like you. Are you sure what happened that night was unintentional?"

Wade bit his lip in thought, and began typing at his computer. Hego scratched his head and turned towards his sister. "You still think Bork had this in mind?"

"He's still the best connection between what happened at that party and what's happening now," said Shego. "He's even the original inventor of the Attitudinator, which makes him even more likely to be involved in the strange goings on here."

"I just did a quick check, but it seems all the other HenchCo employees are accounted for," said Wade. "Just Bork is missing."

"Is there any sign in his e-mails that he was planning something that night?" asked Hego. "Maybe something setting up a hideout or a getaway?"

"Hmm," mused Wade as he searched. "Nothing obvious, but he was coordinating many meetings off site with an unknown party. The e-mail address he was sending these messages to is 'silentThought.'"

"Who's it belong to?" asked Shego.

"Someone smart, I'll tell you that," said Wade. "The e-mail is registered to a hacked account at SmartyMart HQ, and I'm not seeing any consistency in the IPs that are checking the account for updates. Yeah, not just smart, but good at covering their tracks."

"Smarter than you, I guess?" said Shego, dismissively.

"Just smart enough," replied Wade evenly. "To know how to get rid of the small amount of trace evidence there is on the internet. I'll see if I can get some help figuring out who they are based on what they said."

"So what role did the mystery party play in the party?" asked Hego. "The mastermind? Bork's assistant? Or just another cog in the wheel that even Bork is part of?"

"Assuming it's relevant at all," said one of the Wegos.

"Just because they cover their tracks doesn't mean they're evil," said the other.

"I can't answer that now," said Wade. "I'll see what I can find in other e-mails and if I can track down this silentThought."

"Start with Hench," said Shego. "The party was his doing, he could be behind everything."

"Alright," nodded Wade. He paused. "So, you'll help me make everything right again?"

Shego sighed. She looked up at the young boy on the screen. She could sympathize with him loosing the people he was closest to. On the other hand, she couldn't fathom how to make things right again or even if she really wanted them to be. Yes, things would probably be better for her if Kim was a good guy again, but did she really want to be... who she was again?

She'd yelled at Bork during that party for assuming Eletronique was fine because she was happy. It made sense at the time. Now, though, she wasn't sure. Shego didn't want to be evil anymore, but was that her thinking that or her interpretation of what the Princess would want? How could she be sure what she wanted anymore?

"We'll help you get Kimmie and the buffoon back to normal," said Shego. "She's certainly helped this crew enough times that they owe her one."

"What about... you?" asked Wade, uneasily.

"I'm part of Team Go right now, we'll all work together," said Shego, waving her hand.

"That's not what I meant," said Wade.

"I know," Shego said as she frowned. "Go do your thing. Let us know when you've got a face to go with our mystery man or a location to go with Bork."

The face on the screen furrowed its brow, but then slightly nodded. "All right."

"Hey!" Shego suddenly said before the screen changed. "If I find out you're listening in on this screen without your big ol' grin showing up there, I'll track you down and break your fingers."

"Er, o-okay, I'll remember that," said Wade. The next second he was gone and replaced with the camera showing the Clandestine. The ensuing silence was deafening.

"It's getting late," Shego finally said, breaking the silence. "Nothing's going to happen there." She pointed at the screen. "Not in this snowstorm. We'll talk in the morning."

Without waiting for a response, Shego turned on her heel and headed out of the command center.

---

Two o'clock in the morning. Four hours after she left the command center. Four hours since that annoying kid who only seems to exist in TV screens told her one of the last things she ever wanted to hear. Four hours of no sleep.

Shego turned on her side in her bed and stared at the dimly lit clock on the table next to her. She'd stared at it from eleven-thirty until one, then turned and stared at the ceiling until two. She wished she could just shut her eyes and sleep but her body had different ideas. No, instead her heart was racing and her mind kept playing through that night of the Halloween party. There was a gap of time between the fight and when she ran out of the convention center that was missing to her and apparently trying to remember it eighty-five times in a row wasn't improving her recall any.

Angrily sighing, Shego threw off her covers and jumped to her feet. The floor was cold on her bare feet but at least her sweat pants and black tank top were taking the chill of the night off most her skin. She breathed deeply and slowly, trying to calm herself. She'd never studied meditative arts to any extent, but she had a basic understanding of the concept.

She was also aware of the existence of mild sedatives.

Pulling open her door, Shego headed down the catwalk and to the stairs, descending to the first floor where the kitchen hid. She was surprised to find the lights still on and grumbled incoherently about her brothers and 'living in a barn.' Padding her way towards the kitchen she paused in the doorway when she saw Shelly sitting at the kitchen counter holding a mug.

"Shelly," said Shego.

"Hey, Lily," said Shelly. She sipped from her mug again and then set it on the counter beside her. "Can't sleep?"

"Uh... Yeah. Yes."

Shelly smiled warmly. "Me neither," she admitted. "I'm always this way in an unfamiliar bed, though. I sort of expected it."

Shego frowned momentarily, then shook her head. "You've never stayed here before?"

Shelly shook her head. "Never had a reason to. I come when I'm needed; training or missions, but otherwise I go home at night."

"And tonight?" Shego asked with a slight turn upward at the corner of her mouth.

"Not at all what you think," said Shelly with a more sly smile. "The ferries aren't running because of the ice, and I don't think it's proper to waste jet fuel just so I can sleep in my bed."

"Instead you'd rather hang around our kitchen at two o'clock in the morning with _me_ as your company," Shego said sardonically. She walked to the cabinet and pulled out a mug. "Scoot," said Shego as she pushed Shelly aside to get to the sink and fill her mug with water.

"So what's your reason then?" asked Shelly. "I don't think it's the bed."

"I'm sure that you can figure it out," said Shego. "Give me one of those chamomile bags."

Shelly handed over the bag and watched as Shego dunked it into her mug. "Aren't you going to use hot water?"

Shego stuck her finger in her cup and a moment later it began to boil. She pulled her glowing index finger out of the cup and dramatically blew it out.

"Show off," said Shelly. She picked up her mug again and sat down at the small breakfast table. Shego joined her after she threw out the tea bag. "So, is Kim Possible really just like you right now?"

Shego grunted shortly. "This is really the last thing I want to talk about."

Shelly's smiled tempered slightly and she held her mug in both hands. "Humor me for a minute," she said, then sipped again.

With a sigh, Shego rolled her eyes and leaned on her palm. "Right now we're both completely screwed up so I'd say no, we're not both like this right now."

"I mean before. Are you now exactly like she was a year ago," said Shelly.

Shego looked at steaming mug of tea. "No, not really. She's very egocentric. Believes she can do anything, anytime. It's really annoying."

"And you don't feel that way?" asked Shelly.

"Obviously not. At the very least I don't even think I'll be able to sleep tonight. And I've not had the ... easiest time dealing with a couple things."

"Hmm, what kinds of things?"

"Thinks I don't want to discuss with you," said Shego, sharply.

Shelly held up her hands. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude."

Shego sighed again and took a drink from her mug. "Whatever," she said. "No, I really don't feel like Kim Possible, regardless of what that damn gun did to me."

"Well, maybe it didn't do as much to you as you think it did," said Shelly.

"You don't understand what it's like," dismissed Shego. "Everything's all mixed up in my head. I hate it."

"I don't doubt you," said Shelly. "But at the same time, I think the gun's become a convenient excuse for your realization that you haven't been living the life you wanted."

Shego scowled. "Who does live the life they want? That's no profound observation. Life sucks."

"Maybe it's not, but if you blame the gun for causing you to question your life, you're trivializing it," said Shelly. "Forget 'why' you are unsettled, and face what you are unsettled about. Do you really dislike your life until now? And, if so, what can you do to change it."

"How can I NOT blame the gun?" said Shego, loudly. "And how I can change _my _life when I'm being forced to copy Kim Possible's?"

Shelly bobbed her head side to side slightly. "It's a little trite, but, 'I think therefore I am.' The only thing you can ever be sure of are your own thoughts."

"Apparently not when they've been hijacked by lunatics."

Shelly shook her head. "They are still your thoughts. HenchCo may believe they can change who a person is, but they are still relying on that person understanding who to be changed into. You weren't forced to change your opinions, you were forced to question them. The gun was supposed to color your opinions in favor of making you like Kim Possible, but you admit that didn't work. You aren't like Kim Possible. So something else took precedent before the Possible persona took hold. Something you had been conditioned for even better."

"What do you know?" Shego snapped, standing. "You don't know me. We've just met a couple months ago." She stabbed her finger towards Shelly. "You just assume you understand everything about me because you wear my costume? This is agonizing for me! You think you've figured out after one night what I couldn't in three months? What possible other personality could I have been conditioned for?"

Shelly's gaze held Shego's firmly. "Your own, of course."

Shego shuddered once, as if she'd been struck. "What?"

"We all have doubts, Lily," said Shelly softly. "But we suppress them or every decision would be rife with extensive reasoning. 'Am I doing what's right for me? Am I doing what's right for my role?' We also suppress these questions when we know the answer will cause dissonance. When you know what you're doing doesn't match your self-image.

"When you were hit by HenchCo's gun, it wiped away your conscious decisions and forced these questions to the front. To answer them, your mind chose a self-image to rationalize against. I'm sure that Kim Possible is a very well defined persona in your mind, but there had been another you'd been suppressing for a long time."

Shego turned away from Shelly but said nothing.

"Mel told me about you," continued Shelly. "You turned your back on everything you'd done with Team Go and broke off all contact with your family. You tried to become what you'd fought, a 'bad guy.' But instead of forming a new team, instead of using your skills to rise to the top, you became the bodyguard and errand girl for a questionable scientist. You came face to face with your rival constantly, frequently besting her, but letting her escape each time so she could stop you."

"Stop now," said Shego, closing her eyes.

"Over time you couldn't even conceal the fact that you disliked working for him," said Shelly. "And even your brothers knew how much you argued with him and blew him off and beat him up for having bad ideas. But still you kept at it. Why, though? Because you had already gone so far? Because you felt you couldn't go back to your family? Because you couldn't admit you made a huge mistake?"

"I get it, be quiet," Shego said, her hands balling into fists.

"You have to accept what's happened to you," Shelly pushed onward. "It's the only way you'll be able to move forward from this place. When you got hit with that gun, you were given a choice. A choice that _you_ made, not HenchCo, not John Bork. You could have become Kim Possible, but you didn't. You became the person you had always thought you were, but had lacked the conviction to follow through with."

"SHUT UP!" screamed Shego. She turned on her foot and lunged at Shelly, her glowing fists held high. The petite asian woman was prepared for her, however, and leapt out of her chair and out of the way of the attack. The edge of the table and part of the chair crumbled to dust under the onslaught of Shego's fiery attack.

Shego rolled with the miss and landed with her feet securely beneath her and ready to jump again. She looked to see Shelly standing with her hands held before her in defense. "So, this is who you wanted to be?" taunted Shelly. "Angry and attacking your allies?"

"SHUT UP!" Shego called again and attacked. Shelly didn't leap aside this time but twisted to grab under Shego's elbow then ducked to bring her other hand underneath the green woman. Using Shego's own momentum against her, Shelly rolled her over her shoulder and flung her into the wall beside the refrigerator. The counters and table rattled at the force of impact while Shelly took another series of steps backward to put distance between them.

"Going to dispose of me like you did your family when they didn't meet your expectations?" Shelly asked.

Shego crawled back to her feet and looked back at Shelly like a feral dog, her teeth bared, and breathing shallow. "You know _nothing about me!_" Shego charged her fists and flung three bolts of green fire at the girl.

Shelly deftly dodged the first one then twisted and kicked the edge of the breakfast table, turning it on its end in front of the second and third blasts. The table splintered into a cloud of particle board and laminate and then crumbled to the floor. Shelly and Shego stared at each other over the smoldering wreckage of the furniture.

"I know you'd rather run and hide from your life than face that it went slightly askew," insisted Shelly.

"SHUT UP!" growled Shego. She flung several more bursts of green fire and then dashed after them.

Shelly flipped back against the wall and flung herself into the air to sail over the shots and the running Shego. Twisting in the air, she landed just past the burning table legs, spinning her arms out to slow her momentum. She looked up at Shego just in time to see more bursts of fire fly towards her. She leapt and spun to dance away from the row of shots that landed just a few inches short of her each time. When she reached the wall, she opened her mouth speak again but was surprised to see yet another volley of fireballs.

Dropping to her knees, the shots struck just above her head, singing her hair, but leaving her with no room to get away from Shego's fist quickly closing the distance. Shelly dove to the side to get away but her attacker was ahead of her and spun on her foot to swing the fist around and catch the younger girl in the gut.

Shelly grunted as she felt the wind knocked out of her. Her small size and stature was a benefit for avoiding getting hit, but made her all the more incapable of shaking off a fist when it finds its target. Shelly heaved for a breath moments before Shego grabbed her by the throat and held her up against the wall. She flailed wildly at the arm in surprise.

Shego held her at her eye level and stared at her in fury. "Not so sassy now, huh?" she sneered. "What's the matter? Run out of things you know about me?" Shego loosened her grip slightly to let the girl get a breath of air.

Shelly gasped loudly, then looked through her watery eyes back at Shego. She struggled slightly to suck in more air. "L-lily—" she started.

"Don't call me that!" yelled Shego, pushing against her once to force her point home.

"I-I don't k-know much more about y-you," said Shelly.

"Damn right you don't," Shego said, brining her other glowing hand up menacingly towards Shelly's face.

"B-but," said Shelly, swallowing with a great deal of effort. "But, I know that Kim Possible doesn't nearly kill people just because they're annoying."

Shego's eyes widened.

"S-so, who's personality is t-this?" struggled Shelly.

Shego stared at Shelly with a look of confusion as if she were trying to figure multi-dimensional calculus. Her mouth hung slightly agape and slowly her fire covered hand died out. After what seemed like an eternity to Shelly, Shego released her and let her drop to the floor. Shelly coughed several times and held her throat as she breathed cool air into her lungs.

"Why?" asked Shego, the rage drained completely out of her. "Why would you do this? Why risk your life just to tell me I'm an idiot?"

Shelly looked up at Shego then grimaced as she felt pain in her neck and looked back down again. She breathed deeply. "I didn't try out to be part of Team Go on a... lark," she said, slightly struggling. "I want to protect people, and I want to protect my teammates."

"I think this goes a little beyond—" started Shego but Shelly silenced her with a raised hand.

"I was happy to be chosen to be Shego," Shelly continued. "Happy because I won, but happy because this was my chance to change the world. Maybe it'd only get a little different, but being part of such a well known team as Team Go... I felt like, for the first time, I could make a difference."

"Then," said Shelly. "You came back, and I had to give up what I had gotten." She slowly shook her head. "That's all right, though, I wasn't kicked off the team. I could still be a part of the force for good. But... I thought, why should I give up something that's so very important to me to someone who threw it away like it was garbage five years ago? How is that right? How is that good?"

Shego bit her lip, and slowly bent down to help Shelly back to her feet.

"The way you talk, it seems like you're just counting down the days until you leave again," said Shelly. "Before you even rejoined, you were preparing for when you would toss it aside."

"I'm just not... I'm used to working alone," said Shego, quietly.

"I have to protect my teammates," she said. "And if you aren't there when they need you, they could get hurt. You don't have to decide to stay forever, but you can't just suddenly leave because you've decided the reason you came back was a lie and you need to go back to your older life. Especially when it's clear to me that you want to be here."

Shego sighed and looked away.

"I wanted to let your family do this," said Shelly, whimsically. "But they're your family. They love you, Lily. And they won't hurt you even if it helps. So that only left me."

"The outsider," Shego said.

"The one who understands that you're a family _and_ a team," said Shelly. "And that those things put conflicting responsibilities on all of you."

Shego helped Shelly over to one of the still intact chairs and sat her down. She knelt before her and looked into her eyes. "I'm sorry," she said. "You were trying to help."

Shelly made a half-smile. "I was trying to help by getting you to attack me," she said. "I probably should have thought that through some more." She laughed one then made a pained face and rubbed her throat.

"I'll get you some ice," said Shego. She stood and walked over the surprisingly intact fridge.

"Lily," Shelly called out once Shego had turned her back. "Am I going to regret stepping aside for you?"

Shego opened the fridge and began putting ice into a towel. She closed the freezer door and then stood still for a moment. "No," she said finally, and turned. "You won't."

Shelly nodded slowly as Shego came over and held the ice against her neck. The pain soothed slightly and Shelly turned her head back and forth to test her range of motion. The wreckage of the breakfast table caught her eye. "What are we going to tell your brothers about what happened here?" she said, a little concerned.

The green woman turned and looked at the carnage she'd mostly caused. "We... could... claim we had a salacious tryst and you like violent foreplay."

"Oh, that'd put the fear of god into Mel," said Shelly.

"Seriously, what do you see in him?" asked Shego. "Do you enjoy playing second fiddle to his ego?"

"He's a good man," said Shelly. "The narcissism is just a smoke screen. You don't give him enough credit."

"That's because he'd polish it and wear it as badge."

Shelly laughed again, only wincing a little bit. "Okay, I think I'm ready to try sleeping again."

Shego stood again. "I'll help you to your room," she said and offered a hand. Shelly leaned forward and reached out to take it...

And toppled to the ground when the sudden violent rumbling threw her off balance and she missed the hand. She held herself up as she looked around noticing the cabinets flapping in the quake and hearing the thousand clinks of silverware in the drawers.

"What the hell?" said Shego, looking around. The shaking continued for a few more seconds then stopped.

"An earthquake?" said Shelly. She put her hand on the chair and pushed herself up to her feet. Some dishes had fallen out of the cabinets and now laid cracked on the floor along with condiments that had rolled out of the fridge when it rattled ajar.

"Never happened before," said Shego.

Then the rumbling started again and the sound of loud cracking stones echoed through the tower.

"Okay, not normal," said Shego. She grabbed Shelly by the arm. "Let's get to the command center and figure out what's going on." She pulled her with her as she ran for the hallway back to the main foyer.

As they reached the entranceway the shaking got more violent. That's when Shelly noticed the front door's starting to bow inwards and cracking.

"Lily!" yelled Shelly as she pointed towards the door. They both watched as the convex door flexed and grew as if it was being pushed into shape. Shego stared, astonished.

"What's going on?" a voice called from above, and Hego began hopping down the stairs.

"Something's wrong with the door," said Shelly.

Shego shook her head and ran to a nearby intercom screen. She pressed a button and the screen came alive. "Or something outside the door," grumbled Shego.

"What?" asked Hego as he ran over. He stared at the screen as Shelly came up beside them.

"Damn," said Shego.

"Who is it?" asked Shelly looking at the figure on the screen who was apparently right on the other side of the door. It looked like a woman covered in silver or gray, except her hand was pounding on the door as fast as a jackhammer.

"Astronica," said Hego, gravely. He turned away from the screen and looked back at the door. "That's not going to hold much longer."

"Come 'on," said Shego, as she headed for the stairs. "We gotta suit up."

Then the door flew off the hinges and crashed into the foyer.

---

Author's Note: Not quite what I had in mind when I started writing this chapter, but, okay, we'll go with Jungian Psychobabble for $1000, Alex.

Hey look, an update on a Monday!


	13. The Morning After Monologue

13. The Morning After Monologue

---

The café was small, tucked in the lobby of an office building and treated as more of an after-thought than even the vending machines next to the elevators. There were eight tables in total in the store, three directly in the way of lines that would form around breakfast, and another five around the side of the registers, somewhat secluded from the bustle of the lobby but next to floor-to-ceiling windows that looked onto the street. Anyone walking past got a good view of those sitting at the five tables, and the feeling of those drinking their tea was akin to being in a fishbowl.

There were only two benefits to this café versus the Starbucks a couple paces down the street. First, they served a wide variety of teas and coffee, where Starbucks had never managed to free itself from its corporate master's deals with big name tea distributors and only ever peddled its own coffee. And second, the fishbowl-like windows looked out across the street to the first floor of the Bank of England and provided an excellent place to monitor said bank without being overly conspicuous.

So it came to be that Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable were sitting before that big window, a pair of small binoculars handy, and slowly tending to their afternoon tea. Ron made a face every now and then after taking a sip from the darkly colored liquid in his own cup.

"I just don't like British teas," said Ron, for perhaps the umpteenth-bazillion time since they came to England. "Too dark."

"I get it," said Kim, rolling her eyes. She had opted for the coffee, and, being somewhat less mercurial than her partner when it came to the drink, was sipping it without complaint. "Just don't let our server hear, I think people are pretty prideful about their tea in this country."

"I wonder if they have a nice jasmine or oolong," wondered Ron.

Kim shook her head and went back to skimming the paper for anything that caught her eye. Nothing really did, but it was less conspicuous looking up from a paper at the bank than it was staring at it slack-jawed. At the moment though, she was thinking of neither the paper nor the bank, but rather something she hadn't expected: Yamanouchi. It was the ninja school where Ron had acquired his taste for Chinese teas and while Kim had little wrong with the school itself, it was explicitly tied in her mind to the ineffably calm and stoic teen ninja Yori.

Kim would never admit to being jealous, but she could easily admit to being utterly confused. She knew very little about the girl, except that she was just as battle proficient as Kim herself was, just as eager to jump into action to protect what she cared about as Kim was, and liked being around Ron just as much as Kim did. Oh, and Ron spent _an_ _entire month_ with her during that school exchange and then _never mentioned her at all _upon returning. Sure, there was some incredibly convenient oath of secrecy he took to protect the nature and location of the school but not even a little hint or allusion to the girl in all the times Kim had asked him about his experiences? _Suspicious_.

When Kim finally did meet the girl, it was none too obvious that she was interested in Ron, even openly affectionate with him, in her own stoic way. Suspicious to a factor of ten. But then, Ron was entirely oblivious to it in the end, so maybe she really was inconsequential in his mind. That would explain why he never talked at all about her; there was nothing worth talking about.

But if _that_ were true, then why would he have gotten tied up in knots when it came to telling her that they – Kim and Ron – were dating? If she really was little more than a footnote to him, then it should have been just as easy to tell her he was in a relationship. It should have been just as easy as saying he'd gotten a car or changed favorite sports teams.

Of course, Kim had put extra pressure on him, and she was aware of that. She was the one who got it into Ron's head that Yori might be upset at finding out they were dating. She had every reason to think that, after all. Yori was making the googly eyes at Ron for most of the trip to rescue Master Sensei when DNAmy had kidnapped him. Any normal person would be at least a little emotional to find out the person they've been crushing on for several years was now taken. But no, Ms. Cool-under-pressure couldn't have been more nonchalant about it. As if she never cared at all.

Or, as if she knew that it was only a phase and eventually Ron would come around again. So all she'd have to do is bide her time and then be there waiting when eventually Ron got bored or forgot about Kim and came running. Then she could get the final laugh and prove to Kim that she knew Ron better than she did and...

Kim's mind screamed in frustration. This was stupid. This whole chain of thought was stupid. She was being _stupid_. Ron wouldn't do that, he wasn't that callous or mean. He was the one who came to her, after all, he wanted to be in a relationship with her. He wouldn't throw that away on a whim, he couldn't possibly be just biding his time until it was right to go to Yori. She normally wouldn't be running herself around in circles like this, why was she doing so now?

It was the date. Kim had to admit, much of her spare time since then was spent deconstructing the evening. It wasn't just that it was a good date, or the best date she'd had with Ron. It was that it was the best date she'd ever had. Period.

She'd never really considered what she wanted in a romantic partner besides the superficial things every teenaged girl idolized over. Good looks, smooth attitude, great hair, etc. It was all about appearances and, honestly, that was normal. It's what all the girls talked about at cheerleader practice, and in class, and at games. A prospective date had to have those things or it was over, and you might as well have been Big Mike or...

Or Ron Stoppable. Kim liked Ron; she always did, really. They were close friends since kindergarten, and he'd been there for her and her for him ever since. That was never under question. But did he have the qualities necessary to be a desirable boyfriend? Kim had doubted it for a long time. He was cute, but not particularly handsome. He was knowledgeable and confident, but only in a few very specific areas and pretty much flustered with everything else. He did have great hair sometimes, but that was more by accident than anything else. Under the high school teenager's philosophy of datable material, he ranked low.

But who says that's the only criteria that matters? So he'd never draw the attention of Bonnie Rockwaller. So what! Kim wasn't Bonnie, and it was silly to think the same things would appeal to both of them. Unfortunately, it took Erik's complete betrayal to make Kim realize that the things she'd been looking for in a guy were meaningless to her. All the great hair, toned skin, muscled physique, courage, and smooth words were worthless against someone she could trust to stand by her in a fight!

And so, she brought her attention back to Ron. She'd always been looking at him, of course. Too many times she'd gotten upset at him for going off to do his own thing or for absently attracting the attention of others while ignoring hers. She never considered that she wanted Ron's attention for more than just friendship. She never considered a lot of things.

But dating was not working. Kim was embarrassed to admit that her dates with Ron over the last six months had been routine at best and incredibly awkward at worst. Cost conscientious 'coupon-dates' and decidedly bizarre eating contests only brought into sharp contrast how much Ron was not Erik. For all the synthodrone plasma that replaced warm organs and other guts, Erik could handle himself at dinner and a movie where as Ron tended to flail and scramble in confusion at moments where his actions should be obvious. The only times things seemed to go with any semblance of normality with Ron were lunches at Bueno Nacho and they'd been doing this for years before they ever talked of dating.

Kim was frustrated often with the paradox that social graces seemed to be mutually independent to loyalty. The world seemed to be asking her to choose between nice dinner dates and the tendency not to backstab her in combat, but never both. Didn't anyone else have these problems? What was the solution?

"How about that one, Kim?" asked Ron.

Kim looked up in surprise, forgetting where she was for a moment. She looked across the small table at Ron with wide eyes. "What?" she said, unsure of what he was talking about.

"The girl leaving now, she's about the right size," said Ron, motioning out the window. "What do you think?"

Kim slowly looked out the window and tried to figure out what in the myriad of people and buildings Ron could possibly... Oh! She realized in a second. There was a thin woman of average height walking out of the bank wearing a security uniform and mirrored glasses. Kim pulled out her pair of binoculars and took a closer look at the guard, paying careful attention to her hips, bust, and what little of her face showed past the glasses.

"I don't know," said Kim. "She has a very pointed jaw. Maybe with some makeup—"

"Would you like a refill?"

Kim and Ron turned rapidly to see the barista standing beside them with a carafe in each hand. She was smiling – at least at first – and holding the plastic containers out as if on display. As Kim and Ron stared at her with suspicion, her smile slowly faded and was replaced with a look of confusion.

"What are you guys doing?" she asked, not really in an accusatory manner, but more as if she was trying to make sense of something that was impossible.

"Uhhh," replied Ron, his face quickly draining and making it obvious he was completely unprepared for such a question. "Bird watching?" he offered, after a full ten seconds of hemming and hawing.

"Birds?" replied the girl. "In the middle of—"

Kim quickly moved to the offensive to try and replace the waitress' growing suspicion with a more manageable emotion. "Look, do you want a tip, or do you want to ask stupid questions to your customers?" Kim pointed at her cup. "Columbian Dark." She pointed at Ron's. "Earl Gray."

The waitress looked momentarily as if she'd been slapped, then she started to frown in irritation. "Fine," she said with only the barest attempt to hide her dissatisfaction. She poured coffee into Kim's cup then added hot water to Ron's. Anything else?" she nearly sneered.

"Do you think you could bring over a biscotti without stopping to question the plants?" asked Kim.

The waitress rolled her eyes as she turned to walk away. "I'll see if I can manage." She walked away without looking back.

Kim sighed. "I hate making good people angry," she said. "But its better she remember us for that instead of what we're doing."

"You think someone will come to question her after the job is done?" asked Ron.

"If the cops around here are any good they will," said Kim. "Though I have a feeling the people we'll need to worry about the most will be GJ."

"For a robbery?" asked Ron. "I figured them more for chasing spies and terrorists."

"When they put two and two together, they'll realize this is only the start," said Kim. "Wade will gladly let them know we're here, and it won't take them long to track down Dementor now that he's twiddling his thumbs in Austria."

"Ah," nodded Ron. "And with Dementor telling them what we took they'll know it was us who did the job and that we have equipment to do more."

"Not just that," said Kim. "I asked him to join us. Which I'm sure Director will figure out to mean we're recruiting. She'll come after us for sure."

"Hmmm," pondered Ron. "Do you think we should go after Dementor? Grab him before hitting the bank so they can't talk to him?"

"It's not worth it," said Kim. "It's not going to be a secret for long that we're looking for people to join us. It's a waste of time to shut everyone up that talked to us in the last few months. We just need to work fast after the bank job is over."

"Why not do it now before GJ even knows what we're doing?" asked Ron.

"Because we'll need the money and the reputation before we'll get anyone to join us," said Kim.

"Oh," said Ron, and leaned back in his chair, continuing to look occasionally out the window. "Why can't we just ask the people we know to help?"

"They won't do it," said Kim. "Good guys will always question what we tell them to make sure it's 'right.' It'll only be a matter of time before they come to some narrow-minded conclusion that we're worse than the people we're replacing and rally everyone to rogue on us." Kim shook her head. "No, we gotta use bad guys, they're easier to control with money and power."

"We just need to have money and power first," said Ron with a shrug.

"One step at a time," grinned Kim.

Ron smiled slightly and looked back out the window. He cocked his head to the side. "Right there," he said. "Coming around the corner now."

Kim pulled out her binoculars again and looked across the street. There was another woman coming up to the bank, dressed very similar to the last one, but this one was taller, with a rounder face, and a larger bust. "It's close," she said. "Add her to the list as well."

Ron took the binoculars from Kim and looked across the street. "S. Corey," he said, then began writing on his newspaper.

Kim watched as Ron took his notes, breaking in the middle to sip his tea and make a face, then continued writing. She smiled warmly at him. She probably would never be one hundred percent certain what she wanted, but she was learning more and more now. What worked for the other girls didn't work for her. It turned out she wanted more than dinner and a movie out of a date. She wanted adventure. She wanted to push her limits a bit, and feel the blood rushing in her veins. She wanted to do something with meaning as well. Food was necessary, and a movie was diverting, but a date with meaning was a date where something was accomplished. Somebody was saved or at least made safer. Maybe just someone was kept from being further delayed from wandering goats on train tracks. Peace was nice, but it wasn't for her. Kim wanted a life that never stopped and she needed to share it with someone who would keep up every step of the way.

These were all very new ideas to Kim, and she was excited to see where they would lead. More and more, though, she was realizing they were leading toward Ron. Could she have been so lucky that everything she wanted had always been beside her? She wasn't sure.

She did discover something else that night though, and it startled her. When they had gotten back to the castle, Kim had impulsively grabbed Ron and dragged him into her room to kiss him. It had meant to be an emphatic 'thank you' for an incredible night before they went their separate ways for bed. But the kiss was different, and felt electric on her lips. She'd kissed Ron before, many times in fact, but it had been ... what she was supposed to do. It was what couples did, and she enjoyed it in its own right. But in that room, that night, it was something else. She had never wanted to kiss Ron more than she did right then.

So she kissed him again. And again. They kissed with a manic fever as if their lives depended on it. It all blurred as they went from the doorway to against the wall, then backing slowly across the room and onto something soft. The bed, she eventually realized. Then the kissing began to include groping and caressing. Rolling and laughter joined the party before they all gave way to satisfaction and joy. And a new, burning curiosity.

They had not gone 'all the way' it was talked about at school. Sex was something reserved for later, or at least she had always told herself as such. She was seventeen, and while she was fairly certain other members of the cheerleading team had been active, Kim didn't feel it was time for her. At least a third of the people she encountered insisted it was something reserved for 'the one,' while another third spoke of it as a celebration, something to do when you feel comfortable and you feel it's right. Kim didn't comprehend much of this, but had decided that she would wait at least a little while to see how she felt when she was at least a little older.

But after that night, much of her justification seemed flimsy in context. She had convinced herself to wait an arbitrary period of time for little reason other than because other people had done the same for their own reasons. What was _her_ reason? She had little interest in being pregnant, but sex and pregnancy were easily divisible these days. She had felt it was something monumental, and thus should be reserved for the right time, but then again, a casual observer of her life could easily point out over a hundred other things she'd done that were comparatively 'significant.' Why would sex rate as high as stopping the Virginia landslide three years ago, or recovering the Syrian president's stolen sword, or stopping Drakken from dominating the world with Diablo robots?

Kim still didn't know if she felt ready to do it, but the curiosity burned in the back of her mind persistently. She wouldn't let herself be pushed into anything, and Ron had never tried to do anything that Kim didn't start herself. But maybe, in the future, she might want to try. What would that be like? How would she even initiate it? The questions repeated in her head.

Along with a third, that destroyed her ability to concentrate on anything else: Would Ron be interested?

Kim tried not to look upset as she stared at the paper, seeing the ink but not reading the words. That was why she was thinking about Yori earlier. Because for all the eagerness that Ron had shown that night, she had never _talked_ about sex with him before. She assumed he was just as inexperienced as she was, but was that a mistake? He'd had girlfriends before, though not many. Kim probably would have heard through the gossip circles if Ron had done anything with the girls at school.

But he _had_ gone to Japan for a month where he was close to a girl _just like _Kim, and that girl ended up _very much _infatuated with him afterwards, and looked at him like she knew something that Kim _didn't_...

Kim sighed and folded her paper loudly. She changed her mind. They should never have gone on that date, because now it was going to be impossible to concentrate on this bank robbery.

"Are you alright?" asked Ron, looking at Kim with raised eyebrows.

Kim folded her arms and looked out the window. "Yeah, sure," she grumbled. "Just tell me if you see anyone else."

---

Ron handed a small metal sphere with about fifteen wires coming out of it to Monty as they were standing in the basement laboratory. "Hold this," instructed Ron, and pushed the device into the servant's palms.

"If I must," groaned Monty, looking down at the device. "This won't explode will it?" He sighed. "Again."

"Shouldn't," shrugged Ron. "Dunno, really, there's nothing in there that should explode, but I thought that about the banana so..." He trailed off and went back to connecting wires to the teleporter. It had been removed from its original plastic casing again and attached to a larger machine on wheels.

"Maybe you should remove my collar, in case it reacts with it," offered Monty, as nonchalant as he could make himself seem. It turned out not to be very much.

"Very unlikely," said Ron over his shoulder. "I've been adding insulation to the collar to keep it from getting damaged and shocking you to death by accident." He turned and gave a thumbs up. "Better safe than sorry, right Monkey-man?"

Monty rolled his eyes. "Your concern is heartwarming," he said, then frowned. "Wait, when were you insulating the collar? I've never seen you do that."

"While you're sleeping," nodded Ron. He picked up another cable and dragged it over to the generator. "Every now and then I take it off you to make sure it's still working."

"How?!" yelled Monty. "I would never sleep through a blundering idiot like you fumbling around my room like a pervert!"

"I guess you feel more comfortable around us than you think," said Ron. "Or the chloroform's doing it, could be either one." He plugged the cable into the generator. "Okay, that ought to do it. Just hold onto the metal casing."

"What, exactly, is this going to do?" asked Monty, eyeing the wire-covered ball suspiciously.

"Just send you across the room and back," said Ron. "Hopefully in one piece."

"Now, wait just a—"

In a green flash, Monty disappeared from where he was standing. The metal ball hung in the air, glowing a bright white and humming softly. Ron studied it closely. "Hmm," he mused. "Looks stable."

A phone rang elsewhere in the lab. Ron walked around the generator to pick it up after the third ring. A second green flash of light heralded Monty's return.

"-minute!" He blinked and looked around in an alarmed fashion. "You did it anyway."

"And you came back in one piece!" Ron said, patting Monty on the back. "See, I told you it would work."

Monty looked at his empty hands. "What happened to the metal thing?"

Ron pointed beyond the generator to where the white glow was emanating. "It wasn't supposed to go with you. It's keeping the dematerialization field active at the sending end."

The young mad scientist starting running towards the light. "Stay there, I'll throw you a ball." He disappeared beyond the generator.

"I. Am not. A dog," insisted Monty. Nonetheless, when the phone flashed green again and a rubber ball flew through, he caught it as it was sailing past. He looked at it and nearly growled.

Ron stuck his head out from behind the generator. "Did it come through?" He looked in Monty's hands. "Boo-ya!" He grinned.

Monty attempted to throw the ball at Ron's face, but the latter ducked behind the corner. A moment later the glowing light died away and the humming stopped.

"If you're done using me as a guinea pig," called out Monty. "There are rooms in the east wing to clean."

Ron walked back holding the metal sphere in his hands and dragging the cables behind him. He was slowly unplugging the wires as he walked. "This should be it," he said. "All the pieces are in place."

Monty frowned. "What do you mean? For the robbery?"

Ron nodded. "It took longer than expected, but the stuff we got from Dementor all fit together. Though we've made a few changes from the original plan based on what was available."

Monty was almost impressed. But it didn't last long. "It's about time!" he yelled. "Do you know how many times that inspector came back?"

"Three," said Ron, counting on his fingers. Then he grinned. "After you dismissed him last time I used the teleporter to send him to Abu Dhabi."

"That will only make things worse," said Monty while sighing.

"Not when we show up with the cash," said Ron.

"Yes, I'm sure they'll be delighted to see us present them with the gold bars from _their_ _own banks_ to pay our bills," Monty sneered.

Ron continued to grin. "We've got an idea about that as well."

"Oh, really?" Monty was unimpressed.

"You'll see," promised Ron. "We'll take care of all your money issues, just like we promised."

"I'll believe it when I see it," said Monty, but he couldn't help feel a little pleased. He hated these two with a passion that was unrivaled in the modern world, he was sure of it. On the other hand, if they actually did straighten out his family finances, it would almost be worth the suffering they inflicted on him. After all, there was little chance he would be able to fix the problem on his own.

Of course, he still would try to murder them both once the damn collar was off his neck, but he would be just a tiny bit grateful to them in the process.

"I'm going back upstairs," said Monty as he turned. "If you need anything, don't bother calling for me." With a self-satisfied smile he walked purposely away and towards the stairs. As he reached the top the staircase he passed Kim, who was heading down. She looked at him like he was growing a second head.

"Was Monty... happy?" she asked once she made it down to Ron.

"I doubt it," said Ron.

"There was definitely a smile on his face," said Kim. "It was... eerie."

"I told him we're ready for the job so he'll have his money soon," said Ron. "That might have cheered him up."

Kim brightened. "You finished changing the teleporter?"

Ron nodded. "I can keep the gateway open now, so we won't have to dial out a dozen times to move everything." He gestured to the large generator and the mess of wires beside it. "It requires all this to work, though."

"Hmm," Kim raised an eyebrow. "Not exactly subtle. We can't take this into the bank."

"We don't need to," said Ron. "It's an in-line power sub-station, we just need to position it somewhere outside of the city. It bi-directional, too, so we can use it to send things in and out of the bank."

"Why do we need such a thing? The teleporter sent my parents halfway across the world just fine on its own."

Ron made a pained face. "It's related to that capacitor issue I talked about earlier. The teleporter relies on a huge boost of energy that the capacitors store up and send at the moment the phone call connects. When I tried to keep the gateway open for more than a few seconds there were... complications."

"Complications?" asked Kim, almost unsure she wanted to hear about it.

"Signal strength rapidly declines," said Ron. "Things had the tendency not to ... make it there all in one piece."

Kim frowned. "How did you find this out?"

Ron held up his hands. "Nothing terrible," he said. "I sent some plants and computer parts through to test and, well, I got a few leaves, a bit of silicon, and... er... goo."

"Goo?" asked Kim.

"Sub-atomic breakdown," said Ron. "I think, anyway. I had to look it up. I'm not exactly good about the hard science of it, but enough of the call is dropped or cut short that only a few random bits of each atom is transmitted. When the exit gateway tries to reconnect the pieces it ends up a mess."

Kim shivered. "So, that's fixed now, right?"

"Yeah, I just tested it on Monty. He's fine."

Kim looked back at the staircase, suspiciously. "How can you tell? He _was_ smiling after all."

"It would be pretty obvious," said Ron. "At least I think."

Kim turned back to face Ron. "It'll probably be the last time he does that."

Ron sighed. "Yeah, I figured. If Wade knows where we are, it's only a matter of time before everyone does."

"I've already found a better place to operate our syndicate out of," said Kim.

"Ooh, _syndicate_," said Ron with a grin. "I like that."

"It's a little shorter than calling us a League of Barely Controlled Villains," said Kim with a laugh. "And a little more ambiguous."

"Have you set up the exchange for our bank bounty?" asked Ron. "If you have numbers I can set up the sub-station to send it where it needs to go."

Kim walked over to one of the tables and took a piece of paper. "Just send everything here," she said. She wrote a number on the paper and handed it over.

"What's here?" asked Ron.

"Let's call it a 'distribution center,'" said Kim. "Our new partner has people to receive the gold and clean it."

Ron frowned at the number. It had an international extension, though he didn't recognize it. "Where does it go?"

"I don't know," said Kim. "Its better we don't, though. Less to trace back to us."

"Alright..." Ron said, uneasily. "If you say so, KP." He folded the paper up and stuck it into his pocket. "I guess we're all ready to go, then. Just gotta wait until our favorite guard goes on duty."

Kim sighed and turned away from Ron. "There's something else."

"I've already got the blueprints," said Ron. "As a public building they were registered with the state."

"That's not what I'm talking about," said Kim, softly.

"What is it, KP?"

"Ron, we... we have a lot to set up in the time right after the bank job," started Kim. "Establishing our new base, creating the 'incentive' packages, recruiting our expanded team... it's a lot to get done in a few weeks."

"It's no problem, we'll get though it," said Ron.

Kim grimaced and shook her head. "It would be more – uh, time efficient if we did as much as possible at once. So, I-I think, for the first stages, we should split up."

Ron blinked and stared. "W-what?"

Kim turned quickly to look back at Ron and forced a smile onto her face. "Split up. You know, um, divide our work load. I'll deal with our partner and the setup of our base, you go on the recruiting path we talked about."

"You want me to go recruiting alone?" asked Ron, a little confused.

"Sure," nodded Kim. "I mean, there's nobody I know that you don't, and you can do the flying around and proposals while I work on the infrastructure and locating of serviceable henchmen."

"I don't know, KP, don't you think that the villains would like to hear from you—"

"You can do it, Ron," said Kim, trying to sound glib. "We can't very well go around arm in arm all the time, we've got big plans to start! A world to conquer!"

"Well, I know that much but—"

"Great! Then you understand this is the best way to do things."

Ron frowned slowly, and spoke quietly. "I guess so."

Kim smiled widely and patted Ron on the back. "Good. We'll finalize the recruitment schedule and set a time to meet back up at HQ. I expect it'll be about three weeks after the bank job."

"Three weeks?" asked Ron, surprised at the way all this was turning.

"Well, planes only can fly so fast, Ron," said Kim. "It's better to use traditional methods of travel instead of the teleporter where possible, since we don't want it to break on us, and you said there was a risk of that with continual usage."

"A _small_ risk, I said—"

"So, we're agreed?" Kim interrupted.

Ron looked sadly at Kim who simply beamed back at him. Then he looked away. "Yeah. Sure."

"Okay," said Kim. She then quickly moved past him and towards the stairs. She called back from the stairs, "I'll let you know when our gal shows up on the guard schedule!"

Ron just stared ahead as the sound of her steps slowly died away. He shook his head at the strange conversation. It hadn't been the only one in the last weeks since their date. Kim had changed the way she acted around him, and it was troubling. Ron had thought things had gone well. Better than well: excellent! Why had things gotten awkward then?

"What did I do wrong?" Ron asked to nobody in particular.

---

Upstairs, Kim leaned against the wall just beyond the stairs to the basement. Her head was resting against the wall and pointed up towards the chandliers on the ceiling, her face screwed up in a look of pain. Her hand was clutched tightly to her chest.

"I'm sorry, Ron," she said softly. "I can't be distracted by this right now." She hung her head and shook it slightly from side to side. "We shouldn't have gone on that date."

Swallowing hard, and steeling herself once more, Kim pushed herself away from the wall. There were things to be done and they weren't going to do themselves. Maybe there would be time for frivolities later, once the world was safe.

Assuming she even had a place in such a world.

--------------------------

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the missed week there, I'll make it up at some point by posting two chapters in one week at some point.


	14. Astronica Ascendant

14. Astronica Ascendant

---

The silvery figure stepped into the foyer of Go Tower, causing the dust and smoke from the wrecked entrance to swirl around her legs. She was tall, almost six feet standing, with a long pony tail of blonde hair with a streak of pink through it. What little skin was exposed was tanned, almost orange, and faintly rippled as her muscles seemed to be undulating underneath her flesh. Most of body, however, was covered in a silver-gray – metal, presumably – exposing only her midriff and from her neck to the top of her head. Over her eyes and nose was a V-shaped black piece of glossy material, probably glass, almost like a pair of visor sunglasses only with no contours for the nose. Instead it was smooth and angled down like an arrow pointed at her mouth.

Shego stared, stunned at the change. Cold Stare looked familiar to her when she saw him, the changes mostly internal. Hego had said Hellpike looked even more like he used to, mostly only differing in the power of his weapon and the sudden ability to generate fire. But the woman before her, Astronica, was almost entirely another person. The Astronica Shego knew dressed like a bikini-model and had very bulky machinery on her arms and legs. _This_ woman, however, appeared like she'd been dipped in mercury, if not for the small obvious seams at the joints.

Shego looked to Hego to see his reaction but by the time she turned her head, her brother was already moving.

Hego leapt from Shelly's side by the monitor and was lunging at the intruder. His arms extended out like a tackle, aiming for her exposed abdomen. Astronica didn't appear to flinch in the slightest as she took the hit and folded like rag doll. The force of the momentum took the two of them back out the doorway, rolling outside of the tower and out of view.

Shego didn't hesitated, and leapt from the stairs leading up down to the floor beside Shelly. She grabbed her arm and pulled urgently. "Come on!" Shego yelled. She tugged a little harder. "While she's distracted!"

Shelly got to her feet at the third tug and stumbled along with Shego as they headed for the stairs.

"But, Hego—"

"Now!"

Shego pulled her up the stairs. She could hear what sounded like someone banging their fist against the outside of a metal barrel, a deep echoing sound that she hoped was Hego's fist against Astronica's body. A deep pang of concern twisted her stomach because it could also be the sound of Astronica slamming Hego against the metal tetrapods along the shore. They all needed to get out there and support him as soon as possible.

They reached the residential floor and Shego pushed Shelly to the left while she headed right.

"Get Mego!" Shego said. "I'll get the twins."

"Right!" Shelly called out but Shego had already turned away. There was no time to wait for acknowledgement. Hego was likely getting a beating out there.

Shego reached the room to the Wegos and nearly tore open the door herself. "Wego!" she called out.

The scene in the bedroom was surreal. There were probably half a dozen Wegos in the room, running around like crazy. Most of them were dressed in pajamas, but two were being quickly shoved into their Team Go uniform by the other four.

Shego had never seen such a stark contrast between copies of Wego before and it slightly unnerved her. Which ones were the real ones? The two Wegos in uniform? One of the Wegos in uniform and one of the undressed ones? For a second she forgot about the fight outside and boggled.

But only for a second.

"Come on! Astronica's outside!" Shego pointed out the doorway.

The Wegos froze at Shego's words and immediately afterwards all the Wegos in pajamas vanished into the two uniformed ones.

"Astronica?" asked one Wego.

"Is she...?" started the other.

"Yeah," nodded Shego. "Hego's out there fighting her now. We need to support him."

"We figured the shaking had something to do with an attack," said the first Wego.

"Good thing we took time to develop a strategy against her yesterday," said the second.

"Yeah, well," Shego shook her head. "I doubt you accounted for her looking like the damn Terminator."

The Wego's both gripped their chins in contemplation. "The T-800 or the T-1000?" they asked in unison.

"Or the T-X?" one of the Wegos added immediately afterwards.

Shego frowned and her jaw dropped. "Which one is which?"

"The T-800 was in all three films," said one Wego.

"The T-1000 was portrayed by Agent Doggett from X-Files," said the other.

"Actually, the Agent Doggett was portrayed by the T-1000, since Terminator 2 came first," corrected the first Wego.

"Right," he nodded. "And the T-X was the chick."

"Who played Painkiller Jane," added the first Wego. "And Paige in The L Word."

Shego's eyes nearly crossed. "You watch the L— What the hell are you two talking about? Get out there or Hego is gonna be dead!" Shego stomped her foot angrily for emphasis.

The twins jerked to attention then quickly ran past Shego out the door. Shego followed them out onto the catwalk then turned to dash to her room.

She didn't have the luxury of being able to split into six versions of herself to save time getting dressed, but she swapped her clothes as quickly as she could. The black sweats and tank top were exchanged for her stretchy uniform and she was already running out of her room before she finished pulling up her pants.

She ran into Shelly and Mego on the stairs heading back down to the first floor. They were both dressed in their uniforms, Shelly's still a simple duplicate of Shego's own. They were going to have to find some way to differentiate themselves at some point.

"Astronica?" asked Mego as they ran.

"Seems that way." Shego took the stairs two at a time.

"Shels said she doesn't look _at all_—"

"Yes, that's right," Shego interrupted. "That's why I'm worried about Hego. More different has meant more powerful so far."

Mego said nothing in reply and Shego didn't bother to look back.

They reached the main floor and saw the storm outside had blown in a find dusting of snow trailing from the front door. The trail from about a dozen people looked to have walked across it, meaning the Wegos had gone outside already. The sounds of shouts and some sickly gasps came from outside in frequent bursts.

Shego ran for the door without stopping and thrust herself into the code night. She storm was not as bad as it had been earlier in the night but it was still stinging her exposed skin with its icy touch. The trail of footprints dispersed quickly but Shego could see the cluster of Wegos flinging themselves selflessly at Astronica while Hego struggled to his feet nearby. They were close enough to the shore now that an erstwhile hit from Astronica sent a Wego sailing into the bay. The lone Wego struggled for a moment before vanishing in a burst of red light that trailed back to the group.

Shego started to run again. She could see how badly things were going even from their distance. Astronica was still swinging quickly and with strength but Hego was having trouble getting from one knee back to his feet and the Wegos were quickly diminishing in number. Wesley and Wilbur would feel some of the pain from each of copies when the energy returned to them, which meant that the battle-by-swarm tactic could not be sustained for very long. They were buying time for Hego and the rest of the team with their bodies.

Before Shego could reach the battle, Hego pushed himself back to his feet and turned back towards Astronica. He planted his feet then lunged again, flying high at the enemy's head. With Wegos clinging to her limbs, she was unable to get her arms up in time to defend. Hego grabbed her by the head, flung his feet up and over her body, then used the momentum to roll her over his shoulder and fling her down the coastline. Wegos dropped from the metal body as it flew and eventually collided into the tetrapods, becoming lodged between two of the beach caltrops and crumbling into their shadows.

Hego was breathing heavily when Shego got to him. "Hego!" she called as she reached out.

As her hands touched him, Hego began to fall to his knees. Shego quickly grabbed him under his shoulder to keep him upright. Her brother sputtered several times, coughing up a few gobs of blood.

"Take it easy," Shego consoled him. Hego wasn't light and she was having trouble keeping him entirely upright. She looked back to see if Mego or Shelly could help.

Her teammates were with the Wegos, who now looked to be almost in bad shape as Hego. The red-uniformed twins were breathing heavily and looked brused and battered, but were at least standing upright. Shelly and Mego were beside them, talking too quietly to hear over the wind of the storm.

"Let's get them inside!" Shego motioned with her head back towards the tower. Door or no door, it did them no good to be in the freezing cold.

A large hand landed on Shego shoulder and she jerked her head to see the source. Hego was pulling on her uniform to get her attention. His teeth were gritted and his face caught in a tight mask of anger.

"Hego-"

"She's not done yet," Hego grunted. His eyes slowly moved to where Astronica went flying. The darkness hid most of the detail of the tetrapods, making it impossible to see exactly where she landed.

"You skipped her like a stone across the beachhead, she's done," said Shego. She nodded firmly.

Hego shook his head again. "Her skin is like steel. The Wegos and I weren't doing a thing to her. She'll be back."

Shego looked up again to scan the darkness. She couldn't see anything. "What does she want?"

Hego sighed. He pulled on Shego again and moved his feet to try standing on his own. He coughed several times for the effort. "She didn't say. Hasn't said anything yet." He checked his feet twice before pushing away from Shego. "Get ready."

"I don't see any..." Shego started, but then trailed off when she heard the groan of twisting metal. She tried again to find definition in the darkness, but her night vision kept being defeated by the flood lamps over the doorway into Go Tower. Not wanting to take any risks, she lit up her hands in green fire.

There was another sound of twisting metal and then suddenly something big a black flew into the light coming directly at Shego and Hego. Hego acted immediately and stepped in front of Shego with his arms wide. The black object struck him squarely and he wrapped his arms around it to hold it tight. Hego grunted loudly.

The black object was a tetrapod, Shego realized quickly, thrown with incredible force given the size of Astronica. Hego slowly turned and dropped the metal construct that looked like a ten foot tall jackstone.

The rest of Team Go came up behind Shego and Hego and stood beside them. The Wegos still looked dead tired but they stared into the darkness with determination. Shelly and Mego stood to the right of Shego and shared a brief glance of concern with her.

The soft crushing sound of snow alerted them all to Astronica's approach. She was walking slowly towards them just at the edge of the light. She hardly looked damaged at all, the only sign of the last ten minutes of combat being a small crack on the left side of her black visor. As she walked, she cocked her head to the side then cracked the bones in her neck.

"Definitely the T-X," breathed one of the Wegos.

Shego increased the intensity of the fire between her palms and planted her feet. "Any advice?" she asked, refusing to break her stare with the approaching menace.

"I don't see any easy openings," said Hego. "But we can try the tactic we developed."

"Not in this weather we can't," said Mego. He shook his head. "The wind would take me out to sea."

Hego flexed his fingers. "Then I'll get up close to her again."

"The hell you are," snapped Shego. "She's likely to separate your head from your body."

"She already tried." Hego shook his head. "You have a better plan?"

"How about I try turning up the heat and see if she melts as easily as Cold Stare?" said Shego. She didn't actually want to have to do anything like that again. It still unsettled her that she was forced to take a life in such a visceral manner, but if it was choice between letting her brothers die or killing again, well, she'd suffer through it once more.

"If we can't overpower her, then perhaps we should use her strength against her," suggested Shelly. "She must weigh an awful lot with all that metal."

Mego grimaced slightly. "I suppose I could trip her a bit, but I don't know how it'll help."

"She probably can't swim," offered Wego. "We could throw her out into the bay. She might drown."

Hego shook his head. "She was soaked when I started fighting her. I think she walked along the bottom of the bay to get here. Either she doesn't need to breathe or she can hold her breath pretty long."

"What about the old methods? Nuke her batteries." Shego looked back to Hego.

"If you see a battery on her, go for it," said Hego.

Mego's eyes widened. "Wait a minute, what about going the other way?"

"Other way?" said Shego, confused.

Mego turned to Shelly. "Use her body against her, right? All that metal may be heavy but it's also conductive." He looked up at the flood lamps over the sundered door.

"An overload!" the Wegos said together.

"I'll distract her," said Shego. "You guys see about getting us some live juice."

Shego stared down the slowly approaching Astronica. She was only a handful of paces away now but still steadily walking towards her. The air around her hands crackled as the falling snow vaporized instantly upon coming in contract with her green aura.

Movement in her peripheral vision caught her attention, and Shego glanced to either side rapidly. Hego was holding his arms at the ready, having caught his breath for the time being, while Mego was sticking his chest out in a display of what Shego presumed was heroism.

"Go help the Wegos," said Shego. "I'll handle this."

"You need all the help you can get, believe me," said Hego.

"I'm no good with that electronic stuff," said Mego. "Besides, there might be an opportunity for plan 'A'."

Shego sighed openly but inside her heart warmed slightly. Her family was standing beside her in combat and there was nothing in the world that could convince her that wasn't the way it was supposed to be.

"Ready?" said Shego.

Hego grunted an affirmative while Mego nodded just inside of Shego's peripheral vision.

Shego grinned evilly. Her hands pulsed once, glowing brightly for an instant, casting a green light across hers and her brothers' faces. With a step forward, she swung her fists around and flung two large balls of green fire towards Astronica. The balls streaked through the dark night and exploded violently on contact with the enemy.

"Woah," said Mego. "Could you always do that?"

The green haze cleared in a few seconds before the wind. Beyond the cloud Astronica was standing with her arm raised slightly before her body but otherwise unharmed. She slowly lowered her arm and began moving faster to close the dozen paces left between them.

"Well, that didn't work," groaned Shego. "Plan B." She began flinging smaller balls of green fire at the ground beneath Astronica's feet.

Clumps of snow and dirt flew into the air as the ground erupted under Astronica. The hailstorm seemed to catch the villain by surprise, but only for a moment. Before Shego had time to lower her hands the mechanized woman dove through the falling debris and locked the green suited hero in a grapple. Shego became acutely aware of how much stronger Astronica was as the latter began bending her arms behind her back.

Shego jerked in the tightening grasp. "AUGKK!" she yelped as pain sharply burned across her nerves. She started kicking wildly at her attacker, only connecting a couple times despite many attempts.

They both lurched as Hego's fist connected with Astronica's side. The metal rung like a dull bell and vibrated up the villain's arms causing her grip to tremble. Despite the force of the punch, the metal woman was barely fazed, and continued to squeeze Shego in her oppressive bear hug. A second hit from Hego was equally ignored.

Shego grit her teeth and reached out at Astronica as best as she could with her hands. With her arms locked against her sides and partially twisted behind her, she couldn't get a good angle to fling her fire at Astronica that didn't risk her own safety. But with Hego's punches unable to get through the thick metal, and Mego's useless pulling on her silvery arms, there wasn't going to be a better opportunity. With only a slight wince, Shego lit up her hands again.

The pain was searing to Shego but most of the green balls of fire were hitting the soft fleshy exposed midriff of Astronica. The villain's eyes showed the briefest recognition of pain. She then shrugged off Mego's pawing, and twisted to get a better grip on Shego's shoulders.

The green hero felt the world lurch beneath her and suddenly she was being whipped through the air as if tied to a spinning top. A split second later she smacked hard into Mego and the two of them hit the ground hard. Shego first struck her brother, her elbow unfortunately finding itself beneath his ribs before she rolled over what felt like his head and into the icy snow. Mego, for his part, yelped momentarily at the intrusive elbow before being silenced with a sickly crack the moment Shego sailed over his face.

The world spun in Shego's head and she could hear the sounds of someone yelling in pain and someone else grunting in exertion.

"Unggg," Shego groaned through grit teeth as she tried to center the world again. She heard the yelling nearby to the right, which probably meant Mego, and the grunting to her distant left, which she hoped wasn't Hego. The blurry images of the night failed to completely focus in her vision, but she could see enough.

Hego had one of his fists above his head as if he were about to punch down on Astronica's head before the mechanized blonde had caught it in her palm. Her other hand looked as if it had nearly sucker-punched Hego in the gut if he had not grabbed her wrist with his other free hand. They were locked in an intense battle of strength as Astronica tried make her fist connect with his gut while Hego tried to bring his fist down upon her crown. They seemed equally tied at first, until Shego realized Hegos' face was turning as red as his uniform.

Shego tried to focus again and lit her hands like green flares. She couldn't hit Hego, she told herself, no matter how blurry things were, she couldn't let it happen. This mantra, however, didn't seem to making the scene any sharper than it had been. She swallowed deeply and fired the green balls of fire anyway, hoping for best.

Three bolts flew and struck in rapid succession. Two shots landed just shy of Astronica's legs, one before the other as if in a line. The last shot, however, hit her knees and then exploded in flame. While there was little there to catch fire, the impact caused the villain's knees to buckle slightly and that was the only advantage that Hego needed.

The eldest brother stepped forward, pushing forward with both his arms as he did, to throw the heavier warrior off balance. As his momentum overcame her planted position, Astronica was forced to back-pedal or risk falling.

Hego acted quickly and took a long stride forward, weaving his foot behind hers. As soon as her heel got caught on his shin he pulled his hand out of her grasp and punched. The glowing red fist landed in the center of her chest and drove her forcefully to the ground sending up a plume of soft white snow into the air around them.

Hego's second punch came before Astronica could even try to stand again. This time, the strike was more carefully targeted and hit her in the exposed flesh. A third and fourth punch came with increasing speed. The sound was like a spoon being slapped against pudding as his fist came away with more and more blood on it.

Shego grimaced as the scene was quickly becoming gruesome. She turned her eyes away to check on Mego just to give herself something else to concentrate on. He was holding his nose and squirming on the ground, his cheeks streaked with blood. She suspected he'd broken it.

Hego's fist struck metal again as the sound changed once more. Shego turned back to look in time to see her brother hesitate and look down at his enemy with surprise. The two seconds of bewilderment was enough for Astronica to recover. She quickly raised her leg and kicked at Hego's shin, causing him to scream in pain and fall to his knees. Astronica's hand lurched out like lightning and grabbed his wrist as her other arm pushed her back to her feet. With a twist of her hips she yanked him into the air like a ragdoll and flung him back at the tower. He flailed as he spun through in the air then struck the side of Go Tower with a crunch. The stone facing of the tower cracked visibly as he landed in a heap.

Shego felt a pain in her chest at the sound. Hego was tough, but there was a limit to how much he could endure. She wanted to run towards him and whisk him away to safety but there was no chance. As soon as she turned her back to Astronica she would be upon her, and there was nowhere to run. With the freezing cold and snow the ferries were stopped and there was no place else to run to unless the bay froze over completely.

The green hero looked back at Astronica. She was standing again and walking towards her, the same determined pace and stoic face. Her abdomen was a bloody mess with just the hint of silver shining through.

The skin had to be just for show if there was more metal beneath it, Shego rationalized, a convenient target for unprepared heroes to waste time focusing on. She cursed whoever this Creator was for planning this out so well. With the bad weather, the ferries were stopped, and there was no other way off the island. They were trapped. Either they had to find a way to defeat Astronica, or sprout wings to fly out over the bay.

Shego paused and considered that thought. The weather _was_ bad, but not the worst she'd ever seen. Could she fly the Go Jet in it, perhaps?

Lighting up her hands, she faced her enemy but slowly started backing up towards the tower. "Mego!" she called over her shoulder. She didn't want to take her eyes off Astronica.

"Nng," came the reply.

"Get up!" Shego said. "We're not gonna win this."

"Whab was yub first crue?" Mego's voice was pinched and slurred.

"Get back to the tower."

"Sis, Ib feel luk—"

"Do it!" Shego snapped. She knew her brother was in pain, they all were, but that wasn't a good enough reason to lay down a die.

More grunts followed by a quick, but uneven, footsteps faded away behind her. She couldn't afford to turn and look, she just had to hope he was doing was she asked. Astronica continued to step menacingly forward.

Then the flood lamps went out.

Shego intensified the fires in her hands instinctively. The light they gave off was nothing compared to the flood bulbs, but she had to keep Astronica in her sights. The darkness just seemed to invite the villain to attack.

Shego waved her hands around slightly to try and direct the light and see more of the area around her. She still couldn't find Astronica in the blackness. Squinting, she peered deeper, hoping to catch the glint of metal in the swirling snow.

The faint scraping of metal on metal reached Shego's ear and she turned just in time to see the glint she was looking for only a quarter second before it was attacking her.

There was nothing Shego could do to avoid the hit, but as Astronica's metal fist struck her face, the hero turned her body to absorb the impact as much as possible.

There was enough force in the punch to shatter her skull if she hadn't acted fast, but it was barely enough to keep her from breaking her neck. As Shego spun towards the ground, her neck ached in pain from the whiplash. A moment later she had a face-full of snow.

A firm grip then yanked on the back of Shego's uniform, pulling her thrashing form out of the snow and into the air. The snow fell away quickly, leaving only her burning cheeks. She looked back at her captor to see her winding up for the finishing strike on Shego's spine.

This is it, Shego realized as she saw the readied fist. There was much she could recover from given her unique physiology, but a direct hit from this powerhouse to her back was above and beyond her power. She reached out wildly find the arm holding her and yank herself free. It was little hope, but she had to do something. She couldn't just let herself go quietly.

The fist started to move in a blur and Shego felt herself impaled at the waist and then get covered in an encompassing feeling of cold.

"Shego!"

Shego picked her head up and looked to see the barely lit face of Shelly kneeling beside her.

"Get up! We gotta run!"

Shego looked back to see Astronica holding her hand up but nothing in her grip. She was looking at in a perplexed manner then turned her head slowly to look at her and Shelly.

"_Shego_!" yelled Shelly.

Oh, right, not dead yet.

Shego jumped back to her feet and took Shelly's arm to run. They bolted straight for the tower and the only remaining source of bright light within. Shego shook her head to dislodge the snow again and wondered how many times she'd gotten so close to death before.

The heavy pounding of running footsteps began again but the door to the tower was only a few steps away. Astronica was too far away this time, they would actually make it. Of course, there was no door on the doorway anymore, so it wasn't really going to keep anyone out.

"Duck!" yelled Shelly as they got to the threshold.

Shego did as she was told, and they ran half bent forward though the doorway. As they ducked through, she felt something fly just over her head and she turned back once they were in the foyer.

"Now!" yelled Shelly.

The doorway had been hastily wired in the last five minutes, exposed cabling making a messy web over the top half of the doorway. The wires were small enough that it was barely visible from the outside looking in, but from where Shego stood now, she could see it as a lattice of silvery cords over the blackness. One of the Wegos was standing to one side of the makeshift net and quickly jabbed a thick bundle of the wires wrapped in a towel into an exposed conduit.

And then Astronica came running through.

The wiring caught her by surprised and nearly garroted her with the speed she was moving. Either the wires weren't attached strongly or her neck was made of the same metal her midriff was, but the crisscrossing lines quickly dislodged from the wall and tangled around her. Then the current kicked in and the metal wires lit up like neon and crackled and smoked as the current surged across Astronica.

The villain's body immediately began to convulse as arcs of electricity danced across her body and her mouth locked up in a silent scream. Smoke rose from the twitching body where the wires touched her exposed hair and skin, and her eyes rolled up into her sockets just before the conduit the wires had been connected to sparked and exploded ending the perverse show and shutting off the rest of the lights inside the Tower.

In the blackness, Shego smelled smoke and burning flesh. It was revolting, but she slowly made her hands burn with green fire anyway. She had to know if they were still in danger.

The green hue slowly revealed the scene. Herself, Mego, Shelly, and several Wegos propping up an unconscious Hego were there in the lobby and looking down at a smoking body on the ground. Many of the wires had disintegrated when they got hot, leaving diamond shaped patterns across the exposed shoulders and neck of Astronica, but otherwise she looked the same. Except she wasn't moving.

Shego knelt slightly to look at the woman's face. She was unsure if whether she'd be able to tell if the villain was dead by simply looking, since Astronica had been oddly devoid of expression throughout most of the fight. If it was still unclear she'd check for a pulse, though whether that would still be in the right place anymore was also unknown.

Astronica's mouth was still locked open but her eyes had closed, hiding the whites that Shego presumed were behind them. There was no sound of breathing that she could detect and the body wasn't rising and falling as a normal living person would do. All signs pointed to death, but they had to be sure.

Shego slowly reached out her hand.

"Sis, don't..." whispered Mego.

Her hand slowly dimmed and eventually went out so she could touch Astronica without trying to cook her. Her other hand brightened its flame slightly to compensate. Shego's fingers extended slightly and she reached for the pale neck of the mechanized villain.

Her fingers came in contact with skin and she felt gingerly around for where a pulse would be. She could feel very little.

"I don't feel anything," Shego said. She checked again, more underneath the jaw and towards the front. "But who knows if she even has—"

Astronica's eyes shot open and immediately focused on Shego. A metal hand quickly snapped out like a whip and closed on Shego's wrist.

"Aah!" yelped Shego, startled at the movement. She tried to pull her arm free again but the woman kept a vice-like grip on her. "Let go!"

Astronica began pulling Shego down as she tried to get up onto her knees. The Wegos immediately launched an assault, kicking wildly at the villain everywhere they could without kicking their sister by accident.

The metal woman reached out rapidly with her free hand and swatted a pair of Wegos away. Then she put her hand down started pushing herself back up to her feet. Shelly then jumped in and swept the woman's legs, knocking her back to the ground and freeing Shego from her grasp.

Shego grit her teeth at the pain in her wrist. She wanted to rub it but doing so would force her to extinguish the only source of light they had. Instead she looked towards the slightly bent staircase leading up.

"Go!" She pointed towards the staircase. "To the hangar!"

Astronica slowly started moving again and Shego began throwing as large balls of green fire at her as she could. The concrete flooring cracked and splintered as some of the wild shots missed their target.

"Go!" Shego yelled again when she noticed Team Go still standing around. "I'll be right behind you."

This time the team moved and headed for the stairs. They were moving slowly due to being forced to carry the unconscious Hego, but after a minute they were out of sight. Shego reigned back on her fireballs and looked down.

Astronica has her arm up to block but it had done little good. Her metal skin was charred and blackened and much of the skin on her face and shoulders was charred and showing signs of metal beneath. What was left of the metal woman's face looked up at Shego angrily.

"Can you even understand me anymore, Astronica?" asked Shego, sympathetically.

Astronica ignored the question and tried to stand again.

"Tell me what's going on," said Shego. "Please. Who is this Creator and why is he after us? How did he do this to you?"

Astronica got to one knee and shifted her weight to get back on her two feet.

Shego sighed. "You didn't deserve this, you were a thief, not a monster."

The metal woman got back to her feet and stared at Shego. Her jaw opened slightly.

"Revenge," came a strangely modulated voice.

Shego's eyes widened. "Revenge? Whose revenge? Yours or the Creators? Did we fight him before? Is that what this is about? We threw him in the lockup and now he's out to bring us down?"

Astronica closed her mouth then took a heavy step towards Shego and began reaching out.

Shego looked down. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. Then she pointed her hands at the cracked floor beneath Astronica and unleashed a wide beam of fiery green plasma that tore at stone, sending some of it flying and the rest began to melt.

As second later the ground split and chunks started to rapidly sink. Astronica looked down as the earth opened beneath her and she fell. Her hands reached out for the stone around her but they crumbled in her massive grip before following her into the darkness below.

Shego had leapt to the side as the ground opened up and was hanging onto the metal staircase leading upwards. She lit up her hands again to look but could see nothing beyond the lip of the black hole in the ground. She shook her head, then quickly climbed up and started ascending the stairs.

When she was halfway up the stairs to the rooftop hangar the stairs and, to Shego's surprise, the whole building around her seemed to lurch then rumble. She clung to the steel railing for support and stared around in wonder. The tower rumbled loudly again.

"What the hell?" said Shego.

"Sis!" a voice from above called as a beam of white light searched around from above.

Shego held tight to the railing and climbed faster.

When she arrived at the top the building was shaking like crazy and the rest of Team Go was standing around the jet, half of them with flashlights to light up the large hangar.

A second later one of the steel beams in the walls creaked loudly then burst form the wall, jutting out into the hanger at an odd angle. Some of the stone supported in that corner of the large room fell and exposed a bit of the night sky and the swirling wind and snow.

"What the hell is going on?" asked Shego loudly as she tried to keep herself from falling.

Mego ran to the staircase and pointed his flashlight down. He gasped and then turned back to the rest of Team Go. "She's bringing down the whole tower!"

"What?" yelled one of the Wegos.

"The whole tower is twisting and bending! She must be messing with the foundation!"

Shego grimaced. "Whoops, I guess that wasn't such a good idea."

"We got to get out of here!" said one of the Wegos.

"Get in the jet," said Shego as she ran towards the dark fighter plane. She was heading towards the nose of the jet to pull the blocks.

"How are we going to open the hangar doors without power?" asked Shelly. She was running to the jet the same as the others but was looking uneasily at the dark metal doors.

Shego pulled the blocks from the jet's wheels then turned towards the hanger doors. "I'll see what I can do," she said. She flexed her fingers, which were starting to get numb from how much she's had to use her power at full force this evening. Generating her flame put an increasing amount of stress on her body the more she did and it and she was reaching her limit. She couldn't back out now, though, just one more obstacle.

Lighting up her hands one more time, Shego pointed her arms towards the doors. With a deep breath, she turned up the intensity of the fire then fired two large balls of light towards the hangar doors. They exploded in a brilliant burst of light leaving a gaping hole in the center of the two doors. As the tower rumbled loudly again the doors pulled away from their tracks and fell outwards into the night.

Shego nodded to herself then quickly climbed into the jet. She checked that all of Team Go was inside before closing the canopy. The shaking was getting intense and more of the steel beams in the hangar were starting to fall. If any of them clipped the jet they'd be stuck so she had to move fast.

"Hang on!" yelled Shego as she ignited the jet's engines and immediately pulled back on the throttle.

The jet exploded from the hangar and quickly climbed into the sky from the crumbling tower. The intense winds immediately buffeted the small plane and she struggled to keep the craft under control and climbing.

"I have to get us above the clouds!" said Shego through her grit teeth as the G-forces pulled on her and the rest of her passengers.

The intense winds were making it hard to safely climb and Shego fought against the stick the entire time. Just before they reached the first layer of clouds, she risked a glance back out of the dome-like cockpit. Her chest tightened as she saw Go Tower begin to crumble and collapse in on itself, producing a huge cloud of debris as the giant letters 'G' and 'O' fell into the bay.

"Damn," Shego said as they finally entered the clouds and could see no more.


End file.
